


Jump Pulse!

by eri_quin



Category: Skip Beat!
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 08:44:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9597515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eri_quin/pseuds/eri_quin
Summary: In another world, what if Kyoko met Kijima first? Right after Sho breaks her heart, she meets the playboy actor who ends up changing her life and affecting her views a little differently from canon.This time around, she has a bigger cast in her world as friends and family, and hopefully a different outlook.Reverse Harem: Kijima/Koga/Kuresaki/Yashiro/Shingai/MatsushimaxKyoko.





	1. Prologue to a Remix

 

There was a loud ruckus going on his floor. It was unusual, given the apartment complex's tenants, so his curiosity was slightly peaked. He opened his door and stepped out and found two teenagers fumbling with boxes as they headed into the apartment beside him at the end of the hall.

The young blond boy was the loud one, complaining about having to hold onto the boxes for so long, while the young dark-haired girl next to him was whispering apologies and platitudes, but wearing a happy smile on her face regardless.

So he had new neighbors.

As long as they, probably being the kids they are, don't continue to be loud and disrupted, he didn't care. He didn't even expect to run into them anytime soon or talk to them at all.

That's why he was caught off guard to have his doorbell rung two days later, and opening his door to come face to face with the young girl. She had long black hair and eyes the color ochre. She was slim and wore modest and very plain clothes, and wore no makeup.

She immediately bowed, holding a packaged gift.

"Please to meet you. I am Mogami Kyoko and I am moving into apartment number 325. I hope we can be good neighbors."

He blinked, caught off guard by the overly formal greeting and tradition. It wasn't common anymore to give gifts to neighbors and greet them, with most just tending to keep to themselves, but that a young girl like her was doing so was even stranger.

"Thank you," he said quietly, accepting the gift and giving a slight bow in return. She straightened up and he hesitated.

"I am Kuresaki Yuki. Please to meet you and I hope we can be good neighbors."

* * *

She'd given him tea leaves from Kyoto and small but very soft hand towels, with a card bearing her name and someone named Fuwa Shoutaro and written in a beautiful flourish that he'd guessed was her handwriting. It was presumptive of him, but he doubted the young boy with her had anything to do with the gift giving at all, especially as he didn't even come with her to greet their neighbors like himself.

He hardly saw her though. On occasion, he'd glimpse her returning very late, and he'd frowned at her haggard appearance and how late she was coming back. It wasn't safe for pretty young girls to be wandering around the streets at night.

He saw even less of the boy she was with. Fuwa Shoutaro (for who else was the boy but the other name on the card) seemed even harder to catch a glimpse of, but it wasn't an issue he was having. Inwardly, he decided he was quite glad. He felt that it helped keep his peace and quiet, and allowed him to either rest or work without bother.

Nearly five months had passed before he had any more interaction with his new neighbors. He was coming home late and found himself entering into the same elevator as the young girl.

"Good evening, Kuresaki-san," she gave him a bright, if tired, smile. Ah, so she managed to remember his name.

"Good evening, Mogami-san," he greeted quietly in return. He glanced at the heavy bags of groceries she was carrying. "Did you go shopping?"

She blinked before giving him a sheepish look. "I went shopping after work, but I need to hurry and make dinner."

It was nearing eleven o'clock.

"How long do you work?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Oh, um…I work at Moz Burgers from 7 to 4, and I also work at another part-time job at a restaurant from 4:15 to 11," she informed him. "It was slow today, so I got off early."

"You work two jobs? Whatever for?" He wondered why she wasn't even in school.

She turned red slightly. "Um, the rent for the apartment is very expensive, so I have to work very hard to be able to pay it."

"There are cheaper apartments, I'm sure," he continued to question her.

"But Shoutaro said these were really nice apartments and he liked it," she answered innocently, having no clue what was wrong with this and how things could've been so much easier on her.

He should mind his business. He really should. But…

"Please let me help you bring some of your bags in," he offered, surprising her.

"Don't mind me, Kuresaki-san! I don't mean to be a bother."

"You aren't," he said finally and grabbed half of her bags from her.

She gave him a grateful smile and thanked him profusely, and they exited the elevator and headed to her apartment. He helped bring them in and subtly glanced around the apartment. It wasn't really full of things and barely furnished, but it was well taken cared of and was neat and orderly.

"W-would you like some tea, Kuresaki-san?" she asked and he really should just leave and say it was late.

"That would be nice," he said, carefully setting down his burdens onto her table and sitting down at a chair there when she gestured.

She set up the tea and then began putting away the groceries quickly.

"Are you close to Shoutaro?" he found himself asking, and then found himself hearing her talking happily and animatedly about the young man, how he was a singer and how he'd just recently debuted, and she hoped he was successful and how much she believed in him.

"Where is he?" he asked as well, and watched as she deflated from her happy high.

"Still working, I'm sure," she said softly. "He's starting to become popular really quickly, so it's to be expected. I'm finding it harder and harder to see him around here."

Plausible and could very be true. He just felt like it wasn't though.

Tea was placed in front of him and he held it loftily in his hands, inhaling the pleasant smell.

"I enjoyed the tea you gave me," he said suddenly.

"I'm glad," she beamed at him.

He felt a little bit sorry for her. In show business, people like this Shoutaro ended up leaving kind girls like her behind, which was what he guessed was what was happening. And even with tired looks, she was pretty and he admired the sparkle in her eye (even when it was mainly shining when talking about Shoutaro) that he feared would go away.

He finished his tea and politely thanked her before leaving.

* * *

He didn't see her again for a long time. More correctly, he didn't interact with her again for a long time, but there had been plenty of times where he'd seen her come home in exhaustion. There were even times where he saw her hurriedly leaving for work in the morning, but that was rarer, since he went to work fairly early as well.

But Shoutaro was someone he practically never saw. That is, until one night.

He was coming home very late and had just exited the elevator when he stopped and was confronted with the very young man that he had previously been glad to never run in with. The blond had an overnight bag and looked like he was on his way out, scowling heavily and generally looking angry.

He let the other passed by him, and when the elevator closed behind the boy, he glanced at the door of the apartment he knew held a miserable young girl. He glanced at the elevator one more time and then headed to her apartment and knocked.

The door opened quickly and she answered with a happy greeting.

"Shoutaro, did you come back –?" Her words died on her lips as did the hope on her face.

"Good evening, Mogami-san," he murmured. "I was wondering if you'd like to have tea again?"

She blinked back tears that she probably always refused to fall, and smiled widely at him.

"That would be nice, Kuresaki-san."

* * *

He watched the scene unraveling, frowning at some spots before being more neutral at most of it. The movie should be wrapping up soon, so hopefully that meant that he would have more free time before he would choose another production to work on.

"Good work today, Kuresaki-san!" his assistant said, handing him a cup of coffee.

He nodded distractedly, for some reason thinking about that girl again. He glanced at the time. It was nearing ten, so she probably wouldn't even be home right now…

"Yamaguchi-kun, if we're done here, I think I will head home already," he told his assistant, who looked surprised. He usually worked very late and stayed until the end to make sure everything was perfect, but this time he felt he needed to head home already.

"A-ah, very well, sir! I will inform the director. Have a good night, Kuresaki-san."

He nodded at the other before leaving, almost in a hurry and unlike himself. It felt agonizingly slow the way back, with the stoplights always turning red on him and the constant stopping. His mind drifted off to that young girl, always working hard and always being alone in that large apartment by herself. There was also that blond boy who had gone here to Tokyo to become a singer, and yet had never taken a thought to her. Neither of them were really staying in the apartment, with her always working and the other probably staying elsewhere, and yet she was still paying for the expensive rent.

It seemed unfair and it just rankled his nerves.

If he allowed himself more thought on this situation, a situation he'd tried to keep away from and not pay too much attention to, he could admit everything about it made him angry. Why was she not in school? Why was he never home? Why was she the only one paying rent? Could he not pay part of it, especially now that he had gotten his debut and was becoming popular?

The more and more he thought about it, the more he found himself getting increasingly agitated and wanting to confront her about it. She was still young and wasting her youth working all the time. She was like a working-class middle aged woman, having no time for herself or going out with friends or generally having any fun. It unnerved him to see her spend so much of her time and of herself on this incredibly selfish (he had no doubt the blond was) boy, who seemed to just take her for granted and have no actual care for her.

To be honest, it actually…pissed him off.

He managed to finally get to the apartment complex and quickly parked his car, heading to his destination determinedly. Vaguely, he managed to see Kijima Hidehito leaving while he was making his way up, but he pushed that out of his mind aside from the quick wondering of what the actor was doing there. Instead, he waited impatiently in the elevator before he was finally on his floor and making great strides towards her apartment, intent on questioning her.

With a quick, efficient knock, he waited for it to open. Instead of the quick answering of before though, this time it took much longer. He was about to knock again when it finally opened and he opened his mouth for a fast greeting so he could get to business, when he caught sight of her miserable face and eyes that hinted at having cried.

He swallowed and forced on a polite smile.

"I was wondering if you'd like to have tea, Mogami-san."

Started 1/31/17 – Completed 2/1/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So I finally decided to go ahead and publish this here, but I started with this new prologue instead of the first chapter I'm sure some of my readers know of. I hope you guys are interested and liked this chapter! Please remember to review, as I really appreciate them and they motivate me to write!
> 
> 1\. Jump Pulse! pairings: I changed the pairing from just Kijima/Kyoko, to making it a reverse!harem to include Kuresaki Yuki, Koga Hiromune, Shingai Seiji, Yashiro Yukihito, and Matsushima.
> 
> 2\. Producer Kuresaki Yuki: Um, he's barely been present in the manga, but even with that, I'm still hesitant about writing him either way, even though I really want to. So I would hope and think that I did a good job in writing him out in this prologue?
> 
> 3\. Pandora Box: My rare pair forum that has challenges. Please subscribe!
> 
> 4\. The Regions Legends: If you're a pokémon can, this is my collab account and the link is on my profile. I'd really appreciate it if you check it out since it hasn't garnered too much attention.
> 
> 5\. Request: So I'd gotten back into this fandom because one day I felt like rewatching the anime and seeing certain arcs again, and then I thought about the manga and went to its wikia and ran across the wiki profiles of Kuresaki and Koga, which interested me enough to go and read the newest arc of Skip Beat! (and henceforth skipped all the chapters since I last read the manga), and then end up rewatching the anime for real and then read the manga from where I left off on the anime. I loved the new arc so much I really got back into Skip Beat!, but I was disappointed to come back and find practically no variation of stories with Kyoko other than pairing her with Ren! It's frustrating and part of the reason why I lacked any interest in this fandom before, so I would like to request a story, even if it's a one-shot, pairing her with either Kuresaki, Koga, Director Shingai, Yashiro, Matushima (the Head of LME's acting department), Nakazawa (the Head of LME's singing department), Kuu, or even anyone not mentioned that is practically NEVER paired with Kyoko. In fact, I'll call this the Rare Kyoko Love Fest Challenge!
> 
> Please answer this challenge and do your best to write it!


	2. Cry When You Think of Letting Go

 

"Pathetic," she gritted her teeth.

She, Mogami Kyoko, had been played for a fool.

She slammed her hand against the concrete wall of the corridor she'd been dumped in by the guards. She ignored the tears in her eyes, and the few that escaped and tracked down her face, as she was torn between anger and intense depression by the betrayal she'd just suffered. She squatted down even more, sniffling as she leaned her forehead against the wall and angrily felt herself sobbing slightly.

"Hey…are you alright?"

Startled, Kyoko turned in her half seated position to face the person, ending up tumbling onto her arse and becoming semi-sprawled on the ground.

"Ouch…that hurts," she muttered under her breath, blinking away tears before she looked up and saw a handsome man looking down at her worriedly.

He held out his hand to her and smiled gently, and she hesitantly grabbed it and accepted the stranger's help.

"I'm Kijima Hidehito," he introduced himself, still smiling kindly.

She thought he looked like he was waiting for some kind of recognition, but she just blinked at him with teary eyes. His smile became delighted for a moment before he tugged her closer and crooked his arm, offering it for her to grab a hold on. Slightly confused, but still more upset, she just went along with it and curled her arm around his, letting him guide the way out of the hallway.

"Where…where are we going?" she mumbled. "And…and I'm Mogami Kyoko."

"Are you hungry? You look a little hungry and like you need someone to talk to," he turned to her with his kind smile. "And talking is always best over food."

"I don't want to talk," she growled angrily, moving to take her arm away.

He tightened his hold on her and gave her a look.

"It helps," he said firmly. "You'll see. And if you don't feel like it's working, you can leave anytime during our talk. But you have to try first!"

She huffed but decided to do it. She had no other plans that night, other than the fact she'd been thinking of crawling pathetically to home and crying the night away before she would gather herself up and focus on her revenge. This was much better than her original plans, considering she was lost and didn't know what to do with herself.

"You're kind of pushy, you know," she narrowed her eyes at him.

He laughed, using his other hand to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm just not in the habit of leaving girls alone when they're upset, especially after seeing them cry! Sorry~"

She humphed, but rolled her eyes, actually feeling lighter by the second.

"Tch! You're such a playboy, I bet," she accused, rolling her eyes again.

"Eh?! Really? Already!" He gave her a small pout, and though she didn't understand what he was talking about she couldn't help her lips twitching upwards.

"Ah hah! I made you smile. A small one, but still! Now we definitely have to go out for food to celebrate," Kijima enthusiastically said, pulling her along faster.

They ended up at Moz Burgers, of all places, and she nervously sat in a booth with him, despite feeling weird about eating in the place she worked at and had just left not too long ago to deliver food to Sho.

Some of the workers she worked with (even her _boss_ ) noticed her and kept glancing over to where she was seated with Kijima.

"Ah, Kijima-san. Is it really alright to eat here?" she asked him quietly.

He looked at her curiously. "It's alright. I don't mind fast food. Do you?"

"No, no. This place is okay," she muttered, picking at her fries.

"So…" he murmured softly, stealing a fry and eating it as he waited for her.

She fidgeted before hearing two girls walking passed them as they were exiting out of the restaurant, talking avidly about Sho. She glared after their backs and Kijima noted it.

She started fuming in her head, muttering violently under her breath and unmindful of everyone and everything around her. So she was startled when Kijima's hand gently touched hers, and her head jerked up to face him. His face revealed nothing, but for some reason it was enough to set her off and start talking, as he'd wished.

"You know, there's nothing really good about Fuwa Sho. I don't know why those girls like him so much," she spat out, glaring at the table. "He's a stupid jerk and he pretends he's cool, but he's really an idiot."

He tapped her hand lightly and she turned her attention back to him, her irritation fading a bit as she saw the gentle look on his face.

"From the beginning?" he requested hesitantly.

And though she didn't know it, her face molded into a hurt look that made him cringe and inwardly start panicking and feeling bad for pushing her. Before he could tell her never mind though, she started talking in a voice that was so soft and quiet he almost didn't hear her.

Then he was hearing her talk about how she was Fuwa Sho's childhood friend and up until the time he'd found her hunched over in the hallway that had led out to the garage, where upon she had just been cruelly and terribly betrayed by the musician. While surprised this young girl actually had such a connection to the up and coming artist, he felt rather indignant and angry on her behalf by the treatment she'd went through, especially after giving up her life to come after Fuwa and practically live as his maid without asking for anything in return.

"What are you going to do now?" he asked her.

She flinched. "I don't know. I don't have the money to go back to Kyoto and I don't exactly have anywhere to go there. I can't really afford staying here in Tokyo, not in that apartment. I'll have to sell it and find somewhere cheaper to live. And I still have two jobs I need to deal with, one I won't need any more if I'm selling the apartment. Then I need to work out how to get into showbiz and get my revenge on Shoutaro," she growled at the end.

Kijima bit his lip, thinking deeply. "It's not the ideal motivation for wanting to be in showbiz, especially considering most people who want to be in it are really motivated to reach their dreams. But at the same time, the ways of the broken heart and betrayal are very treacherous and painful."

Kyoko eyed him. "You sound like you know personally."

"'Course I do," he said cheerfully. "My first girlfriend and the one I thought I would be with forever and love for all time cheated on me with my best friend. Ex-best friend now."

She gaped at him, both for the insane (and rather cruel, in her opinion) situation and for the cheerful way he had told her about it.

"That's…that's just horrible."

Kijima shrugged. "Yeah. And for the longest time, I was very angry about it and shrugged off love and women. Then I realized I shouldn't just give up on love because of one woman. There was someone out there and I just had to keep looking and never give up. That and to stay angry and fearful of love would just mean that she still had a hold of me and I wasn't moving on."

"Oh," she stared at him, struggling over his reasoning because she didn't want to give up just yet on her revenge or trust in love so soon.

He looked at her steadily before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Don't give up on love, Kyoko-chan."

She flinched away from him violently, staring wide-eyed.

"W-what? Love is –I mean, I don't know what you're –I…I…" she stuttered and tripped over her words, not knowing how to respond to him.

Kijima shook his head. "I can tell. I see it in your eyes. I looked the same way after it happened. Fuwa Sho is not the only man in the world. Focusing so much on him just means that he still has a hold on you. Don't give up on love. I didn't –in fact, once I became determined to not let her get to me and to keep looking for that one person, I went out and started dating fervently and persistently going to any free woman around. Admittedly, that was part of how so many people look at me like some kind of playboy," he face palmed briefly.

Well, that explained his reaction to her playboy comment.

She smiled slightly before turning solemn. "I don't know…"

"I'm not saying do it right now," he reassured her. "Some people can become determined to put the other out of their mind and go straight to trying to move on, and sometimes others need a little time. Maybe you need to actually try going for your revenge like you want. Maybe after you start, revenge might start to mean less or you finally start to not care about it and therefore him. And maybe even, what starts as revenge, you might even start to love whatever it is you're doing in showbiz. Point being, I think you should think about letting go; maybe not now, but at least somehow later on."

The thought of trying to let go made her panic and involuntarily made her eyes water.

"Like I said, later, later, Kyoko-chan!" Kijima held up his hands. He reached out with a hand and she flinched, but he just brushed away her tears softly. "Go for your revenge, if you really want to. I'll even help. Just promise you won't stop believing in love. Or at least try to."

She pursed her lips, but then he pouted adorably and looked at her with puppy eyes.

"Fine," she muttered.

"Great! We should be Love Partners then!"

"What are you so cheery about? There's nothing cheery about love," she huffed and he flicked her forehead. "Yes, yes! I know! I'm trying, I'm trying," Kyoko grumbled.

He nodded in satisfaction. "Okay then. Let's finish things here and I'll take you home. How about tomorrow, I'll help you take care of your apartment and find a new place to live? After that, we'll figure something out to get you into showbiz, alright?"

"Okay, thank you," she said gratefully, thankful for this stranger. "It's really nice of you and I don't know why you are doing all of this, but I…I really appreciate it."

"No problem," he grinned at her. "I just can't help myself or stay away from women."

"Playboy."

He pouted intensely and she smiled happily, enjoying herself in a way she hadn't thought she would be able to, not so soon after Sho's betrayal.

"I'm not even all that pretty for you to get all excited about anyways," she rolled her eyes. "I'm just…plain and boring," she started to glower at the table, remembering Sho's words.

Kijima noticed, recalling what she'd told him Fuwa had said to her.

"Hm, that may be sort of true." _'So blunt!'_ Kyoko mentally face palmed. "But that doesn't mean you're not pretty at all. Maybe, in terms of celebrities and the more extraordinary girls out there to be compared with, but you're still rather pretty. I would have been happy growing up next to you as the 'girl next door,'" the innocent and cheerful grin on his face somehow made her smile, even with his words. Or maybe even because of them.

But he was such a _playboy_.

"But you're even prettier because of how lively you are and the way you just light up when expressing yourself, which makes you much more unique and memorable than all those other girls out there who are just another 'pretty face' in the crowd," he complimented her.

Her face was practically glowing red by then.

"So, are you done?" He reached for her trash.

She slapped his hand away and got all of their garbage together, ignoring her red face.

"I'll do it," she mumbled. "Ugh. You _must_ be successful with women. There's just no way you can't be."

She whirled on her heel away from him, pretending not to see his smug face as she stalked over to the trash.

And yet, there really couldn't be a way Kijima wasn't successful with women, especially how easily he could smooth talk people (specially women), know just how to talk to them and know what they want, and just how to get the exact reaction he wanted out of them. And she could just tell that he knew exactly how to approach a girl, and which tactics to use or switch to.

But he was also one hell of a sincere and charming man that was handsome and really knew how to treat a girl.

Therefore, if he was so successful with the ladies, that he was single and not with one right now (except literally her), meant that he was still looking and hadn't given up finding someone.

It kind of gave her a little hope about…love.

She couldn't help the small smile playing across her lips. Dumping the trash, she decided she might as well resign from her job there. She wouldn't be able to handle two part-time jobs anymore, especially if she was going to start looking for a new place and had no time. It wasn't needed anyway, considering she was going to look for a cheaper place to live and she was going to need time to try to break into showbiz also.

It was…it was going to be a new day for her. A new life…a new her.

Finding her boss, she told him that she was quitting and strangely enough, he didn't seem surprised. He just nodded and smiled sadly, wishing her the best of luck. Her other co-workers she recognized found her straight after and expressed their well wishes, further confusing her but making her happy to know that they actually cared.

She found Kijima straight after and he brought her over to his car, where he followed her directions to where she lived. Hopefully, a place not for long.

Kijima's eyebrows flew up as he saw where she lived, whistling low.

"Huh, you're right. This _is_ a rather expensive apartment complex, especially in Tokyo. It's nice, but not the best place if you're low on money and don't have a steady or well-paying job."

"Yeah…stupid Shoutaro wanted to live in luxury," she glared at his dashboard.

"But he's out of the picture, so who cares, right?" he said immediately and it quickly made her smile and bring her spirits up.

She hmphed and playfully turned her glare on him. "You…Damn you. Just met me and already you know just how to handle me or say just the right things."

"I'm good like that," he said mock-haughtily, winking at her right after. "But seriously, I'm going to take you up."

This startled her. "What? No, you don't have to! I can go the rest of the way myself."

He turned serious on her. "Beyond that it's the polite and gentlemanly thing to do, it's late and a lot of things can happen between here and there. I would like to take you up, all the way to your apartment, please."

"I'll be fine," she said feebly, but he just kept staring at her determinedly. She sighed and gave in. "Alright, alright. You _are_ pushy, aren't you?"

"But a good pushy," he smirked and then he was parking and getting out of his car, going over to her side and opening the door as he helped her out.

Nervously, she led the way to the elevator, mindful of his curious eyes wandering all over the place while he walked casually with his hands in his pockets. Even in the elevator, though she tried not to be, she was nervous (even more so than before) being in the elevator with Kijima. She was pretty close to him and she was alone in the elevator with him. It was kind of nerve-wracking.

But then he started humming out of nowhere and she ended up staring at him, surprised and caught off guard by the unexpected action. Then he gave her a side glance, winking as his lips twitched upwards, and she immediately felt herself unconsciously relax. She smiled reluctantly in resignation.

When the elevator stopped on her floor, they got out and she led the way to her apartment, stopping right in front of the door.

"So…this is me," she said awkwardly, hand swinging to gesture at the door before she abruptly changed her mind and her hand just hung uselessly by her side.

"I see. I guess I'll leave you to it," he said in amusement. "Good night," he murmured after, leaning dangerously close to her and making her squeak as he kissed her cheek.

His lips lingered for a long time, while she was frozen, before he moved back and was smirking. He nodded towards her before heading back to the elevator, sliding a hand into his pocket as he lazily waved backwards at her, head forward and therefore not letting her see the look on his face.

She could guess that stupid playboy was still smirking.

Knowing she was still pouting, she opened her apartment and slid inside, thinking about the events of the night.

Started 11/3/12 – Completed 11/8/12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the original first chapter and what some would be more familiar with! The next chapter should bridge the Prologue and this chapter! I hope new readers will enjoy this chapter and old readers will enjoy this again. Please remember to review! I practically gush over everyone's comments!
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. Pandora Box: My rare pair forum that has challenges. Please subscribe!
> 
> 2\. The Regions Legends: If you're a pokémon can, this is my collab account and the link is on my profile. I'd really appreciate it if you check it out since it hasn't garnered too much attention.
> 
> 3\. The Love Me Confessionals: Lol, I sort of answered my own challenge. Actually, I already had this idea, but decided I'd just stick my challenge title to it, haha!
> 
> 4\. (Pretty pretty please, with icing on top!) Request: So I'd gotten back into this fandom because one day I felt like rewatching the anime and seeing certain arcs again, and then I thought about the manga and went to its wikia and ran across the wiki profiles of Kuresaki and Koga, which interested me enough to go and read the newest arc of Skip Beat! (and henceforth skipped all the chapters since I last read the manga), and then end up rewatching the anime for real and then read the manga from where I left off on the anime. I loved the new arc so much I really got back into Skip Beat!, but I was disappointed to come back and find practically no variation of stories with Kyoko other than pairing her with Ren! It's frustrating and part of the reason why I lacked any interest in this fandom before, so I would like to request a story, even if it's a one-shot, pairing her with either Kuresaki, Koga, Director Shingai, Yashiro, Matushima (the Head of LME's acting department), Nakazawa (the Head of LME's singing department), Kuu, or even anyone not mentioned that is practically NEVER paired with Kyoko. In fact, I'll call this the Rare Kyoko Love Fest Challenge!
> 
> Please answer this challenge and do your best to write it!


	3. Baby, I'm Fragile

For a few moments after Kijima had left, Kyoko had just stared around the apartment. It was quiet and silent, and seemed even barer than before. It hadn't been really lived in from the beginning, and it felt emptier now than when they'd moved in.

And now she was just in it alone.

She swallowed heavily and felt the tears coming on again, and she almost wanted to run out and call out to Kijima again, if only because his presence and his cheer had kept her from this spiral down and somehow he'd gotten her to be better than normal even.

In the silence of this empty apartment, she felt like she was all by herself and had nothing and no one to care if she was gone. Who would? Her mother had all but abandoned her, Shoutaro had just done no better, and his parents back in Kyoto were _his_ parents. She had no father. She never had any friends either, except Shoutaro (or she had thought so). If she was honest, she didn't have anyone.

Who would care if she just leapt off the balcony here?

She felt the tears pouring now and she couldn't stop them. She glanced at the balcony and wavered. Her feet began to move on their own and she had been midway to it, when there was a knock on her door.

She blinked and then rapidly wiped at her face, trying to remove the tears. But they wouldn't stop and she had to take longer than usual to compose herself, so that she wouldn't look like a mess when she answered the door. When she was satisfied, she trudged towards the door and opened it, seeing her neighbor who had always seemed to come at the wrong times (and yet they seemed to be the right times as well, because he always seemed to come there for her and when she needed it).

Kuresaki Yuki had been the only neighbor she'd really interacted with the entire time she'd lived in that apartment complex, and in some ways he'd (despite seemingly distanced and stern) been kind and even worried about her, if she could interpret him correctly.

So seeing him there at her door, mouth opened as if he was prepared to say something and looking as serious as he always did…it seemed right and normal. Just like all the other times when Shoutaro had left her behind and upset. Only this time was much more permanent.

Kuresaki closed his mouth and smiled politely at her.

"I was wondering if you'd like to have tea, Mogami-san."

She couldn't help her reaction, bursting into a hysterical combination of a sob and laugh, sinking to her knees. She felt so much hate in her and she tried to cling to it, but she felt muddled and confused and lost.

She had to cling to it, had to hold onto her hate. If she didn't she'd fall apart; she'd just wither away –

She felt hands on her arms and she was being gently pulled up, before being crushed to a man's chest. While she was pushed into her apartment and the door closed, she was held in a warm embrace and a hand rubbed her head in comfort.

Kyoko wanted to apologize for crying on him, for bursting into emotion so suddenly, but she couldn't stop. Moreover, she wanted to keep being comforted like this, to have someone care for her, even if it was just for now.

In the morning, she'd apologize and pull herself together and cling onto her anger and hate, or at least try to figure out something so that she didn't stay drowning.

All she had before was Shoutaro. Now she had to figure out what to do and where to go from there now that she didn't even have him anymore.

* * *

Yuki wasn't sure what had happened, but he could guess that it had something to do with that Shoutaro. He could guess it was yet another event of the young man irresponsibly and carelessly treating this young girl with disregard.

However, judging by her reaction, he worriedly thought that this time it was much worse and that something had even become irreparable and become passed the point of no return.

Having her pass out in his arms was worrisome, and he ended up picking her up so she and he were both more comfortable. He looked around and there was something terribly lonely about the apartment, more so right now for some reason.

Yuki wasn't sure where to put her. There was no couch in the living room, and it was becoming clear that he'd have to carry her and put her in her bed. On one hand, it was the only option and the logical one. On the other hand, he felt like he was intruding and would be encroaching on her privacy by entering her room.

Eventually, logic won over appropriateness and he carried her to her room. It was just as sparsely furnished as everywhere else, with just a simple tatami mat laid out and a blanket folded neatly at the foot of it. Without another thought, he placed her gently onto her bed, and then took her blanket and secured it over her.

Afterwards, he'd gone back out and sat down at her kitchen table to think. He couldn't just leave her there. For one, if he just walked out, her door would be left unlocked since he couldn't lock it from the outside and she wasn't awake to do it herself. But this also wasn't his home and he wasn't sure he would be welcome to just stay there the night. It was definitely not appropriate.

But would he really just leave her there to be left alone after what had probably been a horrible night, and vulnerable and unsafe alone in that apartment?

He'd tried to stay away and mind his business, but he'd already gone passed that, especially tonight.

What was staying the night and keeping a silent vigil in an apartment not his own?

* * *

Hidehito had woken up bright and early that morning, glad that he had the morning off and wouldn't have work until after noon that day. To that end, he gathered some stuff and headed over to that girl's apartment complex. He'd promised to help her and by God he was going to do it.

He hated how upset and despaired she'd been, and he was determined to turn things around for her. She deserved much better, in his opinion. And he'd always been a sucker for women in trouble, though there was something about Kyoko that made this more special and important somehow.

That's why he found himself in front of her apartment and knocking cheerfully. He waited a moment and then the door was opened. To his surprise, someone other than Kyoko answered the door, and a male at that. However, once he recognized who it was, his surprise was even more pronounced.

"K-Kuresaki-san! I didn't expect to see you. I must be at the wrong apartment…" He made to move away (not wanting to upset and bother the infamous producer) and see about observing the hallway and remember which exact one he'd gone to last night, though he'd been so sure this one had been it. He must've been mistaken though.

"Were you here to see Mogami-san?" Kuresaki asked indifferently.

Hidehito blinked. "Ah! Yes, I am. Do you know Kyoko-chan then?"

Kuresaki nodded before hesitating, glancing into the inside of the apartment.

"She's sleeping," Kuresaki revealed before stepping back so he could enter. "She had a hard night."

Hidehito blinked, before he nodded in understanding and walked into the apartment. "That's true. I dropped her off last night and she seemed alright, but I could tell she was still struggling."

Kuresaki furrowed his eyebrows. "So you know what happened?" he asked, closing the door behind Hidehito.

Hidehito was the one hesitating this time, which Kuresaki noted.

"Does it have something to do with Shoutaro?"

Which made Hidehito go off, because even if he didn't know the other and had no personal offense, knowing what Fuwa'd done and said to the sweet girl Hidehito'd just met made his blood boil angrily. So he couldn't help blurting out angrily what he'd learned, trying to keep his voice low even through his agitation. By the end of it, he could also see a quiet fury in the other.

"I see," Kuresaki murmured. "That is…unfortunate." But he sounded satisfied the blond singer was gone for good. And then he even said it aloud. "But he is gone, so no matter."

It made Hidehito feel a little amused. "Ah, so she's still sleeping. Maybe we should get breakfast going? I'm…fair with eggs."

Kuresaki minutely twitched. "I'm capable with toast."

Well, they were single men (well, he assumed Kuresaki was) and they weren't used to cooking for themselves, much less for others. Still, they ended up with scrambled and fried eggs, with toasted bread and toasted and buttered bread ready, and by the time they were done, Kyoko was walking sleepily into the kitchen. She stared in surprise.

"K-Kijima-san, Kuresaki-san! What are you two doing here?" And then, she hurriedly bowed. "Good morning! Welcome to my apartment."

Both men were amused, but they managed to keep it hidden.

"I told you I was going to help," Hidehito told her. "So I came here and will help you get started and get to organizing and figuring things out."

"I came to see you last night," Kuresaki started after him. "You were very upset and so overwhelmed that you passed out in my arms. I brought you to your bed and stayed the night, so as to keep watch over you and see to you being alright and if you needed anything, as well as not being able to lock your apartment on my own."

"Thank you both," she said, startled at their thoughtfulness.

"So I'd never had to leave my apartment, but I looked it up a little, and apparently it depends on some things. Do you own your apartment or just under a lease?" Kijima got right into it.

"I'm renting it," Kyoko blushed.

"You'll have to talk to the landlord. It's best to let him know as soon as possible, and find out what your lease agreement entailed," Kuresaki interjected, guessing that she seemed to want to leave the apartment.

"He's right," Hidehito said in agreement. "Depending on what your lease agreement was, it might show your options and tell you what you'll have to do and what's easier."

"O-okay," Kyoko looked like she was trying her best to keep up and focus.

"Honesty is the best policy, so I think you should be upfront and tell everything to the landlord," Hidehito continued. "Sometimes landlords can be sympathetic to your reasons."

"I understand," Kyoko said in determination. "Aside from my apartment, how will I get my revenge on Shoutaro?"

While Kuresaki wasn't sure what she meant, Hidehito coughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ah well, I know you want to break into show business and humiliate him, but what exactly did you have in mind? Like did you have any plans?"

Kyoko straightened up. "I was going to sell my things, find a cheaper place to live, and then use some of the money I got to change the way I look."

"You're pretty the way you are." "You look fine the way you are."

He and Kuresaki looked at each other, having basically said the same thing at the same time. But it was true.

"But I don't want to be the 'plain, boring girl with no sex appeal,'" she said upset.

Hidehito bristled, though he could see that Kuresaki briefly looked furious. Ah, that's right –the other man didn't know the exact kind of things Fuwa had said to her.

"You're not plain," Hidehito declared. "Like I said last night, you are totally the Japanese 'girl next door.' And boring? Please. Fuwa obviously hasn't been around you if he thinks you're boring. I've only just met you last night and I _know_ you are far from boring."

"He's right," Kuresaki said. "You are quite the…lively girl. You can say you're quite vibrant."

"And sex appeal?" Hidehito continued. "Totally fixable and easily changed. I'm going to help you get so much sex appeal, that asshole will eat his words. Besides, I don't think it's about looks as much as attitude. Which is still easy to apply."

"You can easily dress yourself up with the right clothing and a little makeup," Kuresaki commented blithely. "There's no need for you to go to extreme lengths."

"What were you going to do? Style your hair? That could be easily done on your own if you were taught. And Kuresaki-san's right, a little makeup and a change of clothing could help you do what you want without changing yourself completely," Hidehito added.

Kyoko, though, suddenly went into depressed mode and there could be a visible dark cloud over her.

"I don't have any makeup. I want to buy some, but I never spend anything on myself. I always bought things for Shoutaro and to pay rent," she mumbled. "And I only have my clothing I brought from Kyoto."

Hidehito sweatdropped while Kuresaki seemed bemused at her reaction, though he (and he was sure the other) was a bit irritated at yet another show of how that ungrateful brat had taken advantage of her.

"I was thinking of maybe cutting my hair short and dyeing it some other color," she sighed. "And buying a new outfit."

"Why don't we start by prioritizing and then budgeting?" Kuresaki suggested, somehow pulling out a small notebook and pen, and Hidehito couldn't find himself surprised. The man was known to be efficient. "Find out about your apartment and see what the best options for you are. I'm not sure if you should sell all your things, seeing as you have very little in the first place. Maybe a few things? After we figure out how much money you have, then we can think of what's feasible to buy. Makeup might probably be a necessity –you need to accentuate your features to stand out in a crowd, but also to show how photogenic you are. On camera, makeup is usually needed as the camera and the lights will affect how you look and the makeup will balance that out."

Hidehito amusedly let the other go on. It was probably better. Kuresaki was actually one of those who actually went behind the scenes and knew all the ins and outs of production and actually chose who and what goes into a movie or project. He'd definitely know more of the know-hows of how it all actually worked and who would be picked based on what.

"At least one new outfit –you wear very modest clothing, but how they look and how they look on you definitely looks like a regular civilian," Kuresaki thought about it. "It would be good to have more than one, but we do definitely need to know how much you'll have."

"Once you find something with higher pay, then we can talk more about all that," Hidehito added. "So let's talk jobs. If you want to break into showbiz and put that guy in his place, think about which area of showbiz do you want to go into?"

Both he and Kuresaki looked at her expectantly and she sort of just stared back at them.

"…Um, I don't know?"

Hidehito twitched and stopped himself from laughing. Honestly, this girl…Ah, but this sudden interest of hers was rather abrupt and motivated by revenge.

"Do you want to act, sing, model? There are definitely many different areas for you to go into," Kuresaki asked, surprisingly staying on pace and not getting lost, even though Hidehito hadn't exactly explained about the whole showbiz revenge plot to him when he'd talked about what had happened between Fuwa and Kyoko.

"I'm not pretty enough to be a model," Kyoko said immediately and Hidehito frowned. He opened his mouth to rebuke her, but he saw Kuresaki shake his head. The other was probably right. Someone like Kyoko needed to be shown and helped over time with these kind of self-esteem issues. "I'd rather listen to music than sing, and I can't sing anyway."

He wasn't sure about that. It just felt like Kyoko was used to being so modest and putting herself down that it was hard to take what she said seriously.

"I don't care about acting," Kyoko shrugged.

This time, Hidehito really did face palm.

"I go to work in a few hours," Kuresaki revealed. "Usually I'm there first thing, however this has taken precedent." He held up a hand, already stopping Kyoko's apology. "Which I deemed and am fine with. As I go to work, you can accompany me and see what you'd like to do. Maybe you'll find you'd like to act after all, or do something else."

"Good idea," Hidehito grinned. "Tomorrow, I've got to film a few scenes and then a modeling gig, so you can come with me tomorrow and check that out! In the meantime, after we've settled your priority affairs, we can work on your resumé and then start job hunting."

"Ah, okay," she nodded eagerly. "I still have to work tonight at Darumaya, so is it alright if I leave you early, Kuresaki-san? I don't want to force you to leave your work on account of me."

Kuresaki waved her off. "It's fine. The movie is almost over, so I can leave early with you and probably eat dinner at your restaurant."

Kyoko's lip trembled as she watched them strangely. Then she bowed lowly.

"Thank you two so much."

* * *

Honestly, she didn't know why the two of them were so willing to help her. Kuresaki had been unquestioningly, if unexpected, been an unknowing rock to her this past year. For every time that Shoutaro seemed to have disappointed her or left her behind, she'd find him there and politely spending time with her for whatever reason. And then there was Kijima, who she just met and was more than willing to help shoulder her burdens and pain, and befriend her so quickly.

She had cracks all over and thought she wouldn't be able to stay together, not with falling apart.

But she had found her glue in these two men, and she could at least messily keep herself glued together until hopefully she healed enough that she wouldn't be so brittle.

For the moment though, she could just be glad that Kuresaki and Kijima had entered her life and kept her from breaking completely and losing her way.

Started 2/11/17 – Completed 2/13/17


	4. A Worthwhile Endeavor

So Kyoko had gone to her landlord with them, and he frowned in thought.

"I'm sorry for how things ended up," Watanabe, her landlord, gave her an apologetic look. "Here's your lease agreement. You can look it over, but I can say now that it might be better to keep the apartment."

Kyoko looked down and bit her lip, taking the lease. Kuresaki took it from her. "I don't know if I can keep affording it. I already quit my job at Moz Burgers, and I would like to find time to find a good job instead of working all day with two jobs."

"You should be in school instead of working," her landlord said sternly. But then he sighed. "You are very reliable on rent and do your best to pay on time and in full, so I could let you either try to sublet to someone or lower the price of the apartment for a while. Personally, I suggest you keep the apartment and find a roommate. Finding a new apartment, especially in Tokyo and for cheap, is very hard in this day and age, and if you get rid of the apartment, you might not have anywhere to stay in the meantime. If you choose to sublet, there's still that you have to find someone and you still have to find your own place to live."

"So," Kuresaki interrupted. "Ideally, if she keeps the apartment, you'd rent it to her for a lower price. For how long?"

Watanabe hmmed. "Well, I think I can afford to let her off for a few months? 3 maybe? 4 if I can push it."

"We have three to four months to get you to find a higher paid job," Kijima mumbled thoughtfully.

"At which point, you would be able to keep the apartment and go steady," Kuresaki observed. "And if you have a roommate to halve the rent, that should make it easier on you."

They settled up there and then the three of them were leaving together, heading back to Kyoko's.

"We'll have to keep the price of your rent in mind for your budget," Kuresaki said. "And you don't really have much to sell, so maybe hold off on that?"

"But then I don't have any money to spend on anything that I'll need," Kyoko pointed out dejectedly.

Kijima hesitated. "Look…why don't you let me buy you an outfit? At least two." Kyoko opened her mouth to protest, but Kijima rushed to continue. "One as a gift from me as a friend," he said firmly. "The second one you can work towards paying me back as an I.O.U."

Kyoko hesitated too, but after a moment, she finally nodded. "I guess alright. It would be rude to not accept a gift from a friend, but you have to promise that I will definitely owe you for the second one!"

Kijima nodded. "Sure, but you don't get to pay me back with money. It has to be some sort of favor."

Kyoko scrunched up her nose, but agreed.

"Then the same offer goes for me," Kuresaki said suddenly. "That leaves you with four new outfits."

She almost gaped at him, but instead shook her head, amazed and a bit wary of just accepting all this so freely from them.

"As for a roommate, I think I might know someone," Kijima brought up, looking uncertain. "It's a guy though, so I don't know if that would be okay with you…?"

Kyoko waved it off. "I lived with Sho, even before living in this apartment. It won't bother me."

Kijima nodded satisfactorily. "Your outfits and living arrangements are sorted out for now. Tomorrow, I can teach you how to style your hair and do your makeup and work on your resumé with you. The day after, I can hopefully get you to meet your potential roommate."

"I can work with her a little on her resumé tonight," Kuresaki offered. "After all that has been worked on, we can look to jobs. Is that fine with you, Mogami-san?"

Though slightly overwhelmed, she nodded and felt grateful for all their help. She wasn't sure where she would be without them, though she knew at the least she would probably end up with rash decisions.

"I'm leaving in two hours, so please get ready, Mogami-san," Kuresaki told her and she almost freaked out. She forgot that she was supposed to accompany him to his work, and she felt both worry and excitement about it.

Soon enough, she'd gotten washed and dressed for the day, and had come back to them in a hurry. Still, thinking about her clothes, she knew they were a bit plain and worried about her looks and if she would be a bother to Kuresaki…

"Alright, so I'm off too," Kijima said cheerfully. "I've got to get ready for my own work in a little bit. I'll probably see you bright and early tomorrow, Kyoko-chan."

"Bye, Kijima-san," she said, smiling weakly. Once he'd left, it was just her and Kuresaki and she fidgeted under his stare.

"You have a wonderful, straight posture," he oddly complimented her.

"Ah –I learned to keep my back and shoulders straight in the ryokan I was raised in," she explained. "I grew up this way, so it's comfortable to me."

He began to head out, so she assumed he wanted her to follow him.

"It's unlike most teenagers these days," he said as they exited her apartment. "It's very formal and traditional. It's also a good foundation for modeling. Most models would be envious of such good postures. To be a model, you'd have to learn how to walk straight with a good posture, usually learning and practicing by having objects put onto their heads and walking without dropping them. For you, I doubt it would be a problem since you have such an impeccable posture that comes naturally to you."

That surprised her. "R-really? Still, even with that, I don't think I have the looks to stand out as a model."

"You are still pretty, as noted by myself and Kijima-san," Kuresaki pointed out. "Personally, I, and I'm sure he, think you completely underestimate yourself. But even not believing us, you should acknowledge that you are still pretty enough. There are commercial models, who are pretty but not super model standard, as you seem to be differentiating. You can easily look into that."

Kyoko's interest was stirred a bit, but even as a commercial model, she didn't think her looks cut it. But modeling, like a super model on runways and all, she definitely didn't think she could match up to that.

For the rest of the trek to his car was spent in silence, and the drive over was too. Kyoko was lost in thought and Kuresaki left her to them, until they reached the studio where the movie Kuresaki was working on was. Kyoko quietly followed him in, shrinking a bit behind him when someone came over.

"Kuresaki-san," the man said. "Things are just being set up for the final shooting."

"Yamaguchi-kun, this is a friend of mine, Mogami Kyoko. She will be accompanying me today. Mogami-san, this is Yamaguchi Hiroto, my assistant."

"Please to meet you," Kyoko bowed formally, making Kuresaki's assistant laugh nervously and rub the back of his head.

"Ah, me too! Please ask me for anything you need! It's my job for Kuresaki-san after all."

"O-okay," Kyoko said unsurely.

Kuresaki nodded to his assistant and took Kyoko in hand, leading her away.

"I'll introduce you quickly to the director. We've worked together on several projects, so we're quite familiar with each other. Here he is," Kuresaki gestured to a man coming toward them. "Jouji, this is a friend of mine. Mogami-san will be here to observe and try to figure out what interests her in show business."

"How do you do," Kyoko bowed. "I'm Mogami Kyoko. Sorry for the intrusion."

"Such formality," the director smiled slightly. "Most young girls are so informal! Please, no need to be so formal here. I'm Morizumi Jouji."

Morizumi swept forward and tugged her away from Kuresaki, gesturing to the sets already being set up.

"I'll show you around –maybe you'll find you would like to be a director!"

She glanced back at Kuresaki with a quick smile, before she was led away and listening intently to what was going on and which scenes were being filmed. Even just after half an hour, Kyoko found she was really enjoying herself. A lot of work was put into directing and constructing a movie, and as she followed Morizumi around and listened to his thought process, she thought it might not be so bad being a director. Although she doubted it was something she could really do and catch up to Sho and beat him with.

When it came time to start shooting the film, Kuresaki came back to her and she quietly stood by his and Morizumi's sides. She noted that Kuresaki was quite strict and when a scene felt off or not genuine, he didn't hesitate to stop it or encourage Morizumi to do so. There were a lot of retakes that needed to be done, but Kyoko felt that in the end, each time the scene restarted, it actually became better with each take.

She also watched the actors and actresses, who managed to draw her attention intently and fascinated her. She liked how they seemed to be able to mold themselves into character when the cameras started shooting, the different ways they were able to change their expressions, and how they voiced their lines and changed the tones of their voices.

"Water?" she heard someone whisper, and she looked to see Yamaguchi there, holding out a bottle of water to her with a smile.

She blinked before accepting. "Thank you," she whispered and he just nodded after silently handing another one to Kuresaki, who took it without a word or acknowledgement, focused on the scene being filmed at the moment.

Kyoko began to frown though. This particular scene had to be redone several times now because one of the actresses in it kept forgetting her line. She could also feel Kuresaki's ire rising with each take, and even begin to glimpse it on his normally impassive face.

Evidently, so did Morizumi.

"Cut! Why don't we take a 10 minute break? Tofune-san, use the break to relax," Morizumi said calmly, though he did glance quickly at Kuresaki. "Yuki, I'll be back as well. I have to make a phone call anyway. Why don't you use the break to relax as well?"

He didn't wait for an answer, leaving with a nod to the producer and a slight smile to Kyoko. Seeing that she was alone with Kuresaki, she hesitated before reaching out and tugging at his sleeve.

"Um, Kuresaki-san, why don't you take a seat? And drink some water," she urged.

He took a deep breath, but nodded distractedly. Still, his jaw clenched as he found a seat and tapped the rolled up script in his hand hard against the chair's arm.

"Really," he grumbled. "How many takes do you need to get one line straight!"

"It is similar sounding words that she used though," Kyoko offered jokingly. "I know the line is supposed to be 'Don't you bear witness to this crime and act innocent!' But…bear, fair…tear…haha, it rhymes at least? English is a hard language!"

Though she hadn't exactly expected that would make him laugh (she was curious though, what kind of thing could make someone like him laugh?), she was still not expecting him to look at her in astonishment.

"You…said the line," he frowned.

"Um, yes?" she was confused.

"She wasn't able to say it for several takes, but you managed to speak it just fine without floundering, and in perfect English," he told her thoughtfully. "That's…that's not bad intonation either. Mogami-san, when did you manage to read the script? I'm not sure you would have been able to get what the line actually was, considering Tofune-san messed it up every single time."

"Earlier, Morizumi-san gave me a copy to read," she held up the script. "I was reading bits and pieces of it as I walked with him. I saw and read that scene a while ago."

"And you were able to remember it already?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

She was taken aback at this line of questioning. "Yes? I mean, it's not like I remembered the whole script or anything. I just was able to run across the scene and when it was filming, I was able to recall most of it, and since it kept being shot again and again, I remembered it fully and was able to remember the lines."

Kuresaki's frown deepened and she worried that she'd somehow managed to upset him. How, she didn't know, but he seemed…upset?

He grabbed her copy of the script and flipped it to a certain page, and was about to hand it back when he stopped and instead kept it. He let go of his own copy.

"Mogami-san, I'm going to start the scene and speak Hongo-san's lines. Please speak Tofune-san's lines," he surprised her.

She began to panic, not knowing why he wanted her to or how she would be able to do it, when he put a hand on her arm and offered a small smile.

"Just breathe in and then out. You'll be fine," he reassured her and she did as he said, though she still wasn't understanding why he was pushing her to do this.

Then he started. "Rina, this isn't what it looks like."

"How can it not?" Kyoko said, though let herself feel angry, because maybe the line would be said better like that. "You're covered in blood! He's lying there in a pool of it!"

"Please, Rina, I only wanted to help you –"

"That's a lie," Kyoko hissed that out, imagining saying that to Shoutaro's face. "You probably never even cared!"

Hah! How sadly like her own feelings this was. She didn't even noticed until now! Stupid Sho…

Kuresaki actually stood up from his chair and faced her head on, and she made herself not balk away.

"You don't understand," he said coldly.

"You're the one who doesn't understand," Kyoko scowled. "Don't you bear witness to this crime and act innocent!"

Clapping was heard and it startled them, and they saw Morizumi standing near them, grinning lightly at them.

"Not bad, not bad," he said. "Yuki, maybe you shouldn't just be a producer and go on to do some acting! And very well done, Mogami-san. Perhaps you found an interest in something after all," his grin became a sincere smile.

Though Kuresaki hnned and recollected himself, Kyoko blushed a bright red. Taking a quick glimpse around saw that there were others, even some of the actors and actresses on set, were looking at her in interest.

"Yamaguchi-kun," she heard Kuresaki speak, and saw him looking at his watch. "Please take Mogami-san out for lunch. It'll be awhile before lunch is served here, but it's getting late and I don't want her to be hungry."

"Oh no, I'm fine," she tried to protest, even though her stomach began growling at that time. She sighed, especially at his knowing look. "Never mind. You're right."

Yamaguchi came to her and began to lead her away. "That was very impressive, Mogami-san. Have you acted before?"

"Me? No!"

But the idea wasn't so lackluster to her anymore.

* * *

They had barely sat down at a booth in Darumaya after their day had finished, when Kuresaki startled her by his firm declaration.

"You should think about taking acting classes."

She stared at him. "What?"

"Even if you aren't serious about being interested in acting, it might be a good idea for you to seek out acting classes," Kuresaki told her. "You have talent in it, and acting classes should further help you see if you do like it or not."

"I guess," Kyoko said unsurely and Kuresaki nodded, changing subjects and not pushing the issue.

"Now about your resumé. We can work with writing it up and making an actual one with Kijima-san tomorrow morning, but we can discuss what needs to be on there before you have to go to work tonight."

Kyoko nodded, feeling determination well up. "So what do I need?"

"A list of work experience," Kuresaki said immediately. "And from there, you can also fill out your list of references. You may also use me as a reference."

Kyoko gaped slightly. She didn't know whether to protest or confirm with him. She went with the latter.

"R-really?" she asked weakly.

He nodded as he took a sip of his tea. "It's fine. I don't mind. Now aside from that, you'll have to write out your skills. What can you do?"

Kyoko held up a hand and began listing things as she lifted up fingers. "I can cook and clean."

Kuresaki kept looking at her expectantly, but she waited for him in return.

"Surely that can't be it," he said skeptically. "Think, Mogami-san. What special skills that you have learned or can do even remotely well."

She hesitated, but brought up her sordid past. "It's not something I want to talk of or utilized, but in my very embarrassing past, I was made to learn tea ceremony and I wanted to impress the family I lived with and learned _katsurimuki_. Not that I'm sure either will really help me in showbiz…?"

He quickly corrected her, looking impressed actually. "Disregard that nonsense about an 'embarrassing past.' Utilize whatever you need to, especially to stand out. Tea ceremony performance in particular is a very valued skill, at least in Japan. Many historical dramas and Japanese films in certain eras, where tea ceremony and traditions are prominent, require actresses to learn how to do tea ceremony since more often than not there are scenes in those kind of films that require it. Those who know tea ceremony have an edge over those who do not in those cases, as well as the fact that if one knows it, any traits and skills learned and gleaned over from tea ceremony can transfer and accentuate certain types of roles. As for _katsurimuki_ , that you know it in any capacity must mean that you have some serious skills in knife work, in which case if you were to be able to learn or perform with knives, swords, things like that…which would be good in an action sequence."

Kyoko couldn't help looking at him with wide eyes. She hadn't really thought of it like that, but he made a lot of sense and she was feeling more amazed and slightly overwhelmed as time passed.

"We'll probably need to go over more skills of yours, since I'm sure there's more to that than you think," Kuresaki decisively laid down. "That's basically most of what you'll need for a resumé, not including your introduction paragraph and your contact information. Now if you knew which direction you wanted to take, we might have to add to that –a music career will probably need to start by you putting together some musical material, probably renting a studio to record those, and then end up with a demo tape that you can include with your resumé. An acting and talent career will require an electronic portfolio, but that's not an immediate thing you need and might even wait until you actually have done some roles. Talent portfolios also include video reels. A modeling career will definitely require a headshot."

"A headshot?" Kyoko asked in confusion.

"A close up photo of your face," Kuresaki clarified. "Generally, all showbiz careers will require photos of you to go along your resumé so you can be scouted on the potential of how fitting you'll be for something, how photogenic you are, or if you have a certain look they want, etc. For a model, it's that and more, considering looks in particular are what modeling focuses on the most. In addition to your resumé photos, they would want a portfolio of you having posed in different shots, different outfits, different looks, different poses –and alongside a close up, they probably want a side-profile and a whole body picture."

"That is a lot of things to do in any of those cases," she admitted. "And a lot of thinking I'll have to do too."

He nodded. "It is. That's why it's important you gain some passion for whatever it is you choose to do, to fuel you and make you keep going. I suppose revenge is a good motivator for now, but show business is a tough industry and can wear down anyone. It will probably be hard on you, if you decide to continue on with this," he ended, sounding rather gentle at the end and giving her a solemn look.

She bit her lip. "I understand, Kuresaki-san. But…I'm not willing to give up yet. I'm determined to see this through."

"I admire your guts and tenacity," he said frankly. "Let's hope you can hold onto them."

She hoped so too.

Started 2/27/17 – Completed 3/4/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're slowly getting traction, but Kyoko is definitely learning a lot! You'll find that a lot of little changes from canon are showing up :D Next chapter should be focused on Kyoko and Kijima, and more on acting and then some modeling!
> 
> Quick Points:
> 
> 1\. Cover: The old one I liked, but admittedly does focus on Kyoko/Kijima, which this story initially just was. The new one that I made looks much more fitting.
> 
> 2\. Pandora Box: My rare pair forum that has challenges. Please subscribe!
> 
> 3\. The Regions Legends: If you're a pokémon fan, this is my collab account and the link is on my profile. I'd really appreciate it if you check it out since it hasn't garnered too much attention.
> 
> 4\. (Pretty Please?) Request: So I'd gotten back into this fandom because one day I felt like rewatching the anime and seeing certain arcs again, and then I thought about the manga and went to its wikia and ran across the wiki profiles of Kuresaki and Koga, which interested me enough to go and read the newest arc of Skip Beat! (and henceforth skipped all the chapters since I last read the manga), and then end up rewatching the anime for real and then read the manga from where I left off on the anime. I loved the new arc so much I really got back into Skip Beat!, but I was disappointed to come back and find practically no variation of stories with Kyoko other than pairing her with Ren! It's frustrating and part of the reason why I lacked any interest in this fandom before, so I would like to request a story, even if it's a one-shot, pairing her with either Kuresaki, Koga, Director Shingai, Yashiro, Matsushima (the Head of LME's acting department), Nakazawa (the Head of LME's singing department), Kuu, or even anyone not mentioned that is practically NEVER paired with Kyoko. In fact, I'll call this the Rare Kyoko Love Fest Challenge!
> 
> Please answer this challenge and do your best to write it!


	5. Hello Heartache

 

Kyoko woke up that morning feeling conflicted. On one hand, she was sure she was moving on with her life and feeling accomplished. On the other, she felt strange that things seemed to be moving on normally, even though she felt stuck in a twilight. Then again, she was also not drowning anymore, and she had to thank two people she barely knew and yet had somehow become inexplicably close to and dependent on.

She didn't expect Kuresaki Yuki and Kijima Hidehito, but she was very glad for them in her life.

At this point in her life, she was sure that if she hadn't had them, if she hadn't met them she would probably be unsure of what to do, and even more worrying, she'd have broken down into little pieces and not be able to pull herself together as well as she had with them around.

Sighing to herself, she was sure that both men would probably be coming over soon and she wanted to make breakfast and have it ready for them. Taking a quick shower and getting ready, she then got ready to cook, after a glance to the notes she'd taken the night before. After she and Kuresaki had gotten back to the apartment complex and split ways, she had immediately taken notes of what he'd said. It was not only good advice, but that he'd given her any at all was important and she shouldn't take it for granted.

By the time she was finished cooking, she heard a knock on her door and she could tell by the knock that it was Kuresaki. Opening it, she saw him there, but there was also Kijima by him. Kijima smiled cheerfully and waved, while Kuresaki nodded respectfully.

"G-good morning," she greeted as she let them in.

"Good morning," "Morning!" both men greeted her back.

She then noticed the semi-huge plastic bag Kijima was carrying, as well as a black soft case and his laptop under his arm. She opened her mouth to ask about them, but Kijima beat her to it.

"They're hand me down clothes from my sister," Kijima said hurriedly. "I didn't pay anything for them and she was getting rid of them."

She blinked and Kijima just stared back steadfastly. She was also sure she saw a brief smirk pass on Kuresaki's face, and while she could think it was her imagination, she also wouldn't put it pass him.

Kyoko narrowed her eyes at Kijima. "You're sneaky," she huffed, inwardly rolling her eyes.

He unrepentantly smirked. "I know," he replied. "Here," he handed over the bag, while holding the black bag and laptop still.

She sighed and held it up. "I'm going to put these away. Breakfast is on the table."

Both men gave her varied degrees of looks of surprise.

"You didn't have to do that," Kuresaki told her and Kijima nodded fervently.

In the hallway entrance that led to the rooms, she gave them a slight smile.

"It's the least I could do. You two are helping me out with so much." Before they could protest anymore, she left them behind and Hidehito and Yuki glanced at each other.

"Are they really hand me downs?" the producer asked him.

Hidehito shrugged a little, smiling lightly. "Most of them. One or two might've been bought…Not that she could prove it…"

Yuki actually chuckled. "She's quite stubborn. It's probably best this way." He then was back to frowning and looking at Hidehito sternly. "About her roommate…"

"And is someone you know," Hidehito didn't blink. "He's a good friend of mine –Koga Hiromune? I'm not taking too much pains to tell Kyoko who he is."

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "He's quite famous."

Hidehito snickered. "You know Kyoko doesn't really watch TV?" At Yuki's surprised look, Hidehito tried not to burst out laughing. "Yeah, at most, she watches game shows every once and a while, since Fuwa actually likes those. She doesn't know the top actresses and actors or anything, so she probably wouldn't recognize Hiromune. I doubt she'd even recognize his name. The only reason she knows Tsuruga Ren is because Fuwa hated the poor guy."

That made sense to Yuki, especially since she didn't seem too concerned being around Hidehito.

"I don't see why it should matter to let her know who he is," he said.

Hidehito nodded. "She actually doesn't really know about me either, except that I'm an actor," which made Yuki raise both eyebrows. "It's kind of nice though," he admitted. "She doesn't place importance on my money or fame, and care who I am. She kind of just…got to know me normally and become friends as is. I think Hiromune would like that."

Yuki could understand that. He wasn't a household name or anything, and probably wouldn't be recognized off the street, but in the industry, he was quite well known and it wasn't unlikely to find people that tried to rub elbows with him. And he wasn't unused to people coming to him with ulterior motives and trying to gain him as a connection and use him for his own connections.

It's probably why he hadn't minded letting Kyoko have the rare and nearly unheard of distinction of using him as a reference and as one of _her_ connections in the show business industry. As Hidehito had said, she didn't place importance or care on that kind of thing, and sincerely and kindly approached him as someone who wanted to get to know him as himself.

"Ah, I changed into one of the outfits," Kyoko's voice sounded nervous as she was walking back. "Do I look okay?"

They glanced over and Hidehito nodded in approval, smirk firmly back on.

"It suits you," Yuki said quietly.

Kyoko blushed slightly.

"Let's have breakfast and then I'll show you how to fix your hair, okay?" Hidehito said, holding up the medium-sized case.

So that was what that case was.

* * *

Hidehito hummed under his breath as he carefully unfurled the curling iron. The rest of her long hair he'd braided back, while some longer strands he'd curled up front and used hairspray to keep it springy and in place.

"Ah, thank you so much for doing this, Kijima-san," Kyoko said gratefully, though she was paying extreme attention to what he was doing. "I am very thankful."

"No problem," Hidehito waved her off, eying his work and deciding that maybe one of her front bangs needed a little more curve to it. "What're friends for?"

He saw her smile a little to herself, looking happy and pleased at what he said. He had a feeling she didn't really have friends, which made him resolve to be there and be a hell of a good one for her.

"So since Kuresaki-san is off to work already, are we going to go too?"

Hidehito nodded distractedly. "Yeah. I'm going to be working on a drama in a supporting role. We'll go there first and you can watch from the side."

Kyoko made an interested noise. "Um, that would be nice. Yesterday, when I was with Kuresaki-san, I really liked watching all the actors and actresses do their scenes and watching them work. Do you like acting?"

Surprised but very pleased at her interest, Hidehito nodded eagerly. "I do. It's fun for me. I like to see what kind of character I can make out of the role I'm given, and see where I can go with it. It's pretty fun to think about the backstory if the role doesn't have one, and then imagining the character's life and how he would react to something or say something to someone. A lot of thought goes into it, though there are some actors who are just innately good and it's a lot of instinct for them."

"What's your role this time?" Kyoko asked curiously.

Hidehito grinned at her in amusement. "Ironically, I'm a womanizing detective, hired by the main lead into trying to solve a murder."

Kyoko giggled. "Well, looks like you've got experience to work off of!"

Hidehito rolled his eyes good-naturedly, playfully poking her forehead. "You're good to go," he announced. "Ready?"

She hesitantly nodded, but he didn't comment on her hesitation. Little by little, he was determined he'd get her to feel more at ease and more confident with doing things and trying out new stuff.

He led her to his car and then they were off, and it didn't take too long until they were in front of the studio he was supposed to work in. Inside, he ushered Kyoko in and introduced her to everyone, and she shyly followed while Hidehito got dressed in his character's clothes and then quietly stood to the side as he went to work on his scenes. In between scenes, he'd glance over to check on her, seeing her avidly watching and taking it all in, and he had a thought (an especially hopeful one) that maybe she would get into acting and she'd get to work with him. It was a nice thought and wasn't actually implausible…

When he was done and back in his own clothing, he and Kyoko were back in his car and heading to his modeling gig. However, just before he turned on his car, he held out his script to Kyoko.

"Kyoko-chan, could you help me practice my lines?" he asked, though it was mostly because he had an ulterior motive. Pushing her interest in acting would be awesome, though it would probably only work if she really, truly was interested in it. If she liked doing something like this, maybe she could see that there could be a future in acting for her. He'd already heard of what she did yesterday with Kuresaki from the man, so this could only just be a little more of a nudge.

Kyoko smiled at him. "O-of course! What page should I go to, Kijima-san?"

"116," he said quickly. "You'll be reciting Hiroki's lines."

He started driving once they started reciting lines, and he paid special attention to how Kyoko spoke. She did well without any practice or knowledge of the script, and more so since she'd not had any real experience acting. She also spoke the lines fluidly and was able to recite back to him without hesitation or stumbles, which he noted impressively. However, he had to stop the exercise when he noted that they'd reached his next job.

"You did really well, Kyoko-chan," Hidehito complimented, noting her immediately blushing. She didn't get compliments often it seemed, which was another goal of his –to compliment her often. She also tended to refute compliments and be too modest, which was sweet and cute of her, but he did still want to try to get her to do that less often and accept compliments and acknowledge her own worth.

"Come on," he got out of his car and went around to help her out. He led her in and squeezed her shoulder when he saw she was getting nervous as she looked around. "It's alright," he murmured. "Keep your head high and be confident. Don't look down on yourself."

She glanced at him and he gave her a reassuring smile. Kyoko took a deep breath and smiled back at him.

For now though, his main focus would be on Kyoko's confidence because she lacked too much of it and she was too precious and sweet to be some wallflower.

* * *

Kyoko watched eagerly as Kijima was dressed up in the clothes he had to do the photoshoot in, and was surprised to see that he had to wear a bit of makeup. But she remembered what he and Kuresaki said about lighting and being taken film and photographs of, and she could actually see what they'd meant in person.

"Ah, Honoka!" Kijima called out and waved to someone.

Kyoko turned to face who it was, gazing on in awe at the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen. She was everything Kyoko could ever hope to be, and Kyoko floundered in place a bit. She didn't even feel envious of her; she just wanted to get to know her and gush over her like the elegant noblewoman she just had to be.

"Kyoko-chan, this is Ootomo Honoka," Kijima introduced the beautiful woman with strawberry blonde locks of hair and hazel eyes. "Honoka, this is Mogami Kyoko, a close friend of mine."

Dazedly, Kyoko was pleased and honored to already be considered a close friend of his.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Honoka smiled sweetly at her, elegantly holding out her hand and Kyoko clumsily held out hers to grab Honoka's. Honoka gently grabbed hers and squeezed it lightly. "A friend of Hidehito's is a friend of mine."

Honoka then turned to Kijima, smiling teasingly, and Kyoko watched the easy change in the woman in wonderment. "Hidehito, you didn't say anything about bringing such a cute sweetheart on set."

Kijima just smirked and looked to Kyoko with a wink. "I'm helping her out with life choices and all."

Honoka laughed. " _You_ and _life choices_?"

He huffed. "Yes, me!" He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Kyoko-chan here is interested in show business, but not sure what to do. So a friend and myself have taken her to our jobs for today and yesterday so she can see if she likes anything."

"Oh, is that so?" she asked curiously. She looked to Kyoko. "Well, Hidehito's about to go on to his photoshoot, so why don't you watch with me?"

"R-really?" Kyoko asked, unable to help being shy.

Honoka's smile made Kyoko swoon in happiness that she meant it and because it was so beautiful.

It wasn't long until she and Honoka were seated to the side and were watching together, and Honoka actually surprised her by telling her of modeling poses, terms, explaining what the director of the photoshoot meant when he wanted something done this way or that, and even talked about her own runway experiences. Kyoko idly thought she might prefer being a runway model, because at least she can focus on moving and walking, and not stand still and getting her picture taken like this (and probably getting nervous or awkward and end up thinking too much).

"Is it hard?" Kyoko whispered to her. "It's not just standing around, getting your picture taken?"

"It would seem like it, wouldn't it?" Honoka nodded. "But in a runway, you have to be precise on timing. So you have to walk on stage and keep track of time, and when you're off it, you have to immediately change into the next outfit. You're given probably a minute at most, maybe? It depends on how fast they're switching models and outfits to be shown. You're almost always wearing heels too, so your feet will be dying by the end of it. After a while, you might get used to wearing heels in some way though. There's a lot of different types of models, but things like this is commercial print if it's for an ad or specifically what we've done today, a general fashion model. In this, directors and photographers can be very demanding and you'll probably have to stay still or pose for hours until they're satisfied. You're under the hot glare of lights and you can't sweat too much. You have to watch your facial muscles and your body, and try not to ruin things by getting tired or relaxing at the wrong moment."

Kyoko listened in fascination, especially as she had never thought of modeling as being something that would be hard.

"Kijima-san makes it look so easy," she commented as she watched. "I don't think you would look like you would have much trouble either."

Honoka hmmed. "Well, we've been doing this for a while, so that makes it easier on us. But it's also easier for us to not show if we're tired or uncomfortable because of our experience."

"It would be nice to put on makeup and just be transformed like this," Kyoko said aloud, thinking to herself.

Honoka looked over at her, starting to smile widely. "Would you like to do so now?"

Kyoko blinked. "…What?"

The model laughed delightedly and grabbed onto Kyoko.

* * *

When Kyoko looked at herself in the mirror, she couldn't believe it was her who was staring back. It was amazing! Honoka had only put just a little bit of makeup ("to accentuate your already pretty features!"), and it seemed to have transformed her entirely. She looked different –prettier somehow.

She thought she was plain before, though after Kijima had fixed her hair and she'd changed into one of her newer clothing, she felt she'd definitely looked better. But now…she felt and looked older, and much more prettier and mature.

"Don't be silly," Honoka said as she pushed back some of Kyoko's hair behind her ear. "You've always been pretty. Just a little makeup is just to heighten those attributes and provide a little sparkle."

The model looked her over, biting her lip thoughtfully. "You should definitely stick to light makeup for everyday use, or a more natural route otherwise. Though you should definitely keep the makeup off more often, because you are definitely still pretty without it and maybe it's best you don't rely on it every day. Hm, that's something to think about…Ohh, you look like such a heartbreaker!"

"So this is where you two went off…to…" Kijima started off boisterously, before trailing off as he caught sight of Kyoko.

Kyoko blushed heavily, more so at the awed look on his face. He whistled lowly.

"You know, you were always pretty, Kyoko-chan, but damn…" he said, shaking his head as he continued to stare at her.

Kyoko could only just smile awkwardly at him, feeling pleased and flattered about his reaction. She really wished she could buy makeup and wear it like this…

"Ah, hold on a bit," Honoka said. "I've got something for you!"

For a moment, the strawberry-blonde left and then quickly came back with a bag of clothing that made Kyoko's eyes widened.

"A lot of clothes from the photoshoot we get to keep, so you can have these," Honoka told her. "I have plenty!"

Kyoko sputtered and wanted to refuse, but she didn't have much of a good reason to without being rude and maybe offending Honoka or something. She reluctantly accepted the bag.

"Come on," Honoka grabbed her hand. "Let me introduce you to some of the others and you can talk with them while Hidehito and I go onto the next part of the photoshoot. We'll probably have to take photos with each other and with the others, as well as probably some group photos."

As she was being dragged away, she looked back at Kijima in shock, but he just laughed at her and gave her a thumbs up.

But to Kyoko's surprise, she was getting along with the other models Honoka introduced to her. She didn't feel uncomfortable or inferior, and Kyoko didn't end up speaking foolishly or weirdly, and elatedly found she was able to keep up in the conversation on her own. Even when Honoka introduced her to the director and photographer, she wasn't put off by it and the two men didn't look down on her or snubbed her at all. The photographer even seemed to eye her considerately and even offered his card and to take photos for her if she wanted!

When Honoka and Kijima were busy, Kyoko was actually keeping company with some of the other models, who also provided advice and information to her about their jobs and how the modeling world worked. She even was around the director, who –when he wasn't providing direction to the models being photographed –would talk to her and also explain from the directorial and artistic side of things, and she didn't mind just listening to everyone and absorbing things.

"How was your day?" Kijima asked when they were leaving.

Kyoko nodded ardently. "Everyone was so nice and I learned a lot! I was so surprised."

"Mm," Kijima gave her a slight grin. "This was a good group. There are others out there that aren't so nice, but it's good you came with me today when the people I was working with are all on the nicer side of the showbiz industry. Models in particular can be pretty vicious and mean-spirited, more so if they're really narcissistic."

If it was like that, Kyoko was glad too.

Kijima drove calmly, turning on the radio. Of course, Fuwa Sho came on, but Kijima was quick to change it without a word or acknowledgement about the singer. Kyoko still sighed inwardly and tried not to be so upset at her lack of progress, since she understood that she had to take things slow and understand what she was getting into. She couldn't get impatient, no matter how much Sho irritated her or hearing or seeing him made her get impatient about things.

And then the song that came on was an American one, and it wasn't much better than hearing Sho when she heard the lyrics.

She flinched and tried to hold onto the good day she had.

"You should acknowledge who he was to you," Kijima murmured.

She looked to him in disbelief, but he kept his eyes on the road.

"He was your friend. Once upon a time he was. Even if he didn't act like it or tried to not make it seem so, he was."

Kijima smoothly parked over to the side and they sat there quietly. Kyoko's jaw clenched and unclenched as she glared at her lap. But then she slumped in her seat and looked back at Kijima again, this time with sad eyes.

"He _was_ my friend," she remembered. "I had no one else but him, and he was there for me when he could. He couldn't see me cry and didn't know what to do when I did, so I know that he did try and care in some way. He was my _friend_. And the person he was before? That person will always mean the world to me."

She took a shuddering breath, more so as she felt Kijima reach over and grab her hand.

"Once upon a time I knew a boy named Shoutaro."

And he'd always been selfish and a jerk, but he had been there for her in the past and he'd been the only friend she had. And she had to acknowledge that and say goodbye to him now, and hopefully move passed this so that she didn't stay stuck on him.

Goodbye, friend, and hello heartache indeed.

Started 3/13/17 – Completed 3/15/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kyoko's Look in here/Roommate!Koga: Kyoko's look in here is based off of the Version 2 Kyoko from "Kyoko's Various Appearance Changes". As for revealing Koga as the roommate already, I originally wanted it as a surprise for the next chapter, but I wanted that talk about 'connections' and Kyoko treating them normally in here, so I went with that instead.


	6. Life is Moving

Kuresaki was looking over Kijima's laptop, eyes roving back and forth on the screen. Kijima was humming happily as he enjoyed Kyoko's cooking. It seemed oddly normal and like nothing was out of place. That was a strange thought in of itself, but Kyoko found she didn't mind how normal this kind of thing was.

Kuresaki and Kijima seemed like they fit all along in her life now.

"How's the resumé?" Kijima asked, pausing eating to look to Kuresaki.

"Passable," Kuresaki said. "Needs tweaking in some areas, but it's good enough for now."

"Hm," Kijima nodded. "She can pad it up as she does jobs. Anyway, Kyoko-chan, the guy I told you about? The one that's supposed to be your roommate? He's coming this morning."

"Eh? Such short notice, Kijima-san!" Kyoko said in distress.

Kuresaki just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Really? I did say that we'd deal with your roommate situation today-ish," Kijima said thoughtfully.

"I didn't know that meant he was coming and it was for sure and –" Knocking interrupted Kyoko's panicked rant.

She froze and looked to the door, while Kuresaki and Kijima looked to it curiously. Kijima, having an idea who it was and the one to invite him over in the first place, got up from the table and headed to the door to answer it.

The door opened to reveal a rather handsome man with slightly wavy dark hair, a cheerful smile on his face, and dressed up nicely with a scarf wrapped loosely around his neck.

"Ah, Hiromune, we were just talking about you!" Kijima grinned and stepped aside to let him in. "Kuresaki-san, Kyoko-chan, this is Koga Hiromune."

Though startled to see Kuresaki there, Koga waved at everyone and gave a grin equal to Kijima's.

"Hullo! I'm Hiromune. Pleased to meet you all." He looked to Kyoko. "I'm guessing you're who my new roommate is supposed to be?"

Kyoko smiled hesitantly. "Um, yes. I believe so?"

"Great! This is for you," Koga handed her a giftwrapped box. "As new roommates!"

She curiously, if still hesitant, opened it and gasped, feeling hearts in her eyes. Makeup! She got a makeup set!

She started cooing over it and gushing to herself, leading to Koga being bemused while Kijima snickered and Kuresaki shook his head. Kuresaki did give a look to Kijima, who shrugged. If he had hinted to Koga as to what 'homecoming gift' he should buy, then well…he was only helping everybody out. Besides, Kyoko was in ecstasy at the moment, it seemed.

"Thank you so much!" Kyoko happily said to Koga. "You really didn't have to, but I really like the gift!"

Koga blinked and smiled unsurely. "Um, well, my pleasure?"

Kuresaki stood up. "I should be leaving now. I have work in an hour, so I'll have to start heading out if I want to reach there in time. Mogami-san, keep working on your resumé and look over the notes I wrote down, and look over those sites I told you to look at for jobs."

"Ah, I should be going too," Kijima said, looking forlornly at the food on the table.

"I can pack you some of it to go, Kijima-san. You too, Kuresaki-san," Kyoko volunteered.

"You're the best, Kyoko-chan!" Kijima exclaimed, while Kuresaki inclined his head. "Thank you, I'm quite grateful."

"Koga-san, you're welcome to get settled in," Kyoko told him. "I'll help you out after I've packed some food for these two."

"No problem," Koga was back to being fully cheerful. "Don't mind me."

Kyoko made two bento boxes that the other two accepted in surprise.

"A bento? You didn't have to go that far, Kyoko-chan," Kijima said, but she waved him off.

"It's okay. Besides, you guys are always helping me out and I'm very happy to do a little something in return."

They thanked her again and then they left, before it was just Koga and Kyoko left. She turned to him shyly.

"Do you need any help?"

He smiled slightly. "I'd like that. We could get to know each other too."

"What do you do, Koga-san?" she asked while they walked down to his car. "And you can take the parking spot next time. I don't have a car, so it's okay if you use it."

He looked surprised. "Uhhh...thanks. I'm an actor. I'm fairly well known," he added in amusement.

"Really?" she looked at him with wide eyes. "I have no idea, sorry. I never know these kinds of things."

"It's alright! I like that you don't know of me," he said in excitement. "It's kind of refreshing. What about you, Kyoko-chan? What do you do?"

She blushed in embarrassment. "I'm trying to break into showbiz. Kuresaki-san and Kijima-san have been nice enough to teach me about it and to help me see what I'm good at and what I could be interested in." And knowing he'd be her roommate and would probably come to know about it, she reluctantly added on. "My motives weren't really pure at first, though now I really am more focus on finding out what I want to do with my life." _'I hope,'_ she added in her mind. Several of her demons still screamed in hate about Sho.

"Not pure, huh?" he said in curiosity. "What do you mean by that?"

Kyoko cringed. "It wasn't too long ago that…a _childhood_ _ **friend**_ lived here with me. Let's just say I overheard him talking about me to his manager and how he'd just been using me as a maid and all, and I ended up confronting him angrily and swearing revenge by getting into showbiz and becoming bigger than him –and then got kicked out of the studio, where Kijima-san ended up finding me."

Koga winced at her predicament. "That is…a really, really horrible thing. Any chance you'd tell me who this so-called childhood friend is? I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Fuwa Sho," she reluctantly said his name and several of her demons flared up, screaming hateful things about Sho and how much they hated him and they were going to defeat him soon.

She started muttering, not noticing the dark aura that started to surround her by then, though Koga stared at her in fascination and a tinge of fear.

"What is this darkness?" he muttered, leaning in and trying to peer closer, as if he could decipher it just by doing that.

"Eh?" Kyoko blinked and tilted her head, breaking out of her dark thoughts to look at Koga in question.

He chuckled and shook his head. "You're really interesting, Kyoko-chan! But Fuwa Sho, huh…" He looked thoughtful as they reached his car and he opened his trunk. He reached in and grabbed a box while Kyoko grabbed a bag. "I know him. He's overly arrogant and there's no depth to his songs," he said bluntly, smiling brightly at her. "At least that's what I think."

Kyoko sweatdropped.

"Ah, that should be it," Koga looked into his trunk. "I didn't bring much with me. I'd probably buy a bed later on."

"Koga-san, do you mind me asking why you're moving in with me, instead of finding someplace you can have on your own?" Kyoko asked shyly.

He tugged a little at his scarf, wearing a slightly troubled look on his face. Kyoko realized she might've accidentally asked something troubling and was about to speak up, when he did so first.

"I lived with my family all this time," he said honestly, starting to walk back. "We're big on sticking together, with my brothers not moving out until they got married. But last year, I'd decided I was finally going to move out, find my own place to live. My mother, however, was then diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. I stayed to help out when I wasn't working, but it was hard between mine and my dad's schedules. Eventually, just recently we decided to hire a home nurse to take care of her and my dad told me to go on and look for someplace to live. I wasn't really looking, but Hidehito mentioned you to me and told me you needed a roommate, and I decided maybe I should just move finally."

Kyoko felt bad for asking and she told him so. He smiled slightly at her and shook his head.

"I don't mind and it's not like you knew," he said. "Besides, it feels nice to be listened to and to let that all out to someone. So thank _you_."

They shared peaceful looks with each other, and Kyoko felt happy and grateful to have found another friend in her life.

* * *

Kyoko had gone on to look at her resumé and see what changes Kuresaki had made to it, gawking slightly at how much more comprehensive and eloquent it had become since she and Kijima had first created it. It made her sound much more capable and really spruced her up. When she looked at his notes, it showed what he changed and had added on, and then the last pages showed what he wanted her to work on. Most of it was the section on her skills, which he kept emphasizing that she should keep thinking carefully on all that she was capable of and not dismiss anything.

"How's the resumé coming along?" Koga asked her, finishing up fixing his room. She was in there with Kijima's laptop because he'd asked for her opinion on where he should be putting stuff.

She scratched her head. "Alright, I guess? He told me to work on expanding on my skills section, but I don't know. I've never really thought about it."

"Can you sing?" Koga asked her.

She scrunched up her nose. "I can't carry a tune. Sho said so, even though he used to make me help him write his songs and sing with him."

"Mmhm," he gave her a side-glance. He flipped on his already set up music system, though on low as courtesy to the neighbors since he didn't know if the walls were soundproof. "Lyric-writing," he said. "That's one skill. And start to sing this."

"I don't know anything about writing lyrics though," she frowned. "And I just said I can't carry a tune!"

"One, you wrote for Fuwa and I'm guessing he used some of those songs as demos to get into his agency, therefore they were at least good enough. And Fuwa was the one who told you couldn't sing and you believed him, so I think at this point his opinion is invalid. Sing this song."

She glanced at him exasperatedly, but began to sing along to the English song that Koga had started playing. She stopped after a while, feeling embarrassed though.

"Told you his opinion was invalid," Koga laughed. "That was pretty nice! I don't think he knows what he's saying, or he just didn't want to complement you."

That made her pretty happy and she wondered if she really had any talent in music after all. She wasn't sure, but maybe she wouldn't be as afraid to sing aloud to music anymore, especially if she wanted to while she cooked or cleaned or something.

"Maybe I should look up some jobs now," she thought about it. "Kuresaki-san told me about some sites that were for show business, and where I can look through and see if something's posted."

"Good idea," Koga said. "Look around the theaters too, when you have time. They should have some jobs, though probably more background stuff."

Kyoko found the first site and scrolled through it, finding nothing that could work for her since she didn't have the experience or training for it. But on the second site, she thought she might have found something that she could do and seemed to pay quite a bit, at least more than her usual and current jobs.

There was an AM job cooking and cleaning up at the Uesugi Stage Combat School.

Started 3/25/17 – Completed 3/29/17


	7. This is Not a Fight Club!

"Good job," Koga congratulated her. "You found something pretty good, and quick it seems. And it's really not bad –the Uesugi Training School is pretty famous, especially because of the man who owns it and teaches classes himself there. Ever heard of Uesugi Kotetsu?"

Kyoko actually did recall that name. "Un! He's a famous martial arts practitioner, right?"

Koga nodded. "He is, along with being a famous actor that utilizes his experience in martial arts in his roles. He's well known overseas too. Apparently, he mostly teaches at his personal combat school these days, so if you get the job, you might see him. Aside from that, I hear he gets busy occasionally going to training grounds if there's a collaboration request, and teaches etiquette for historical dramas and works as a sword combat choreographer for films."

"Ah, he sounds intimidating," Kyoko said, feeling unsure.

Koga gave her a wink. "Nah, I think you can handle it. You're only going to be cooking and cleaning after all, and it's early in the morning. I doubt you'll actually run into him."

Kyoko was still a bit hesitant, but she also felt determination at his encouragement. There was also this seed of hope that's been growing ever since she'd gotten help from these amazing guys who were thoughtful and sweet and acted like the friends she realized she should've been like with Shoutaro.

"You should get some sleep, so you're rested and prepared for tomorrow. Gotta get those nerves chilled down, right?" Koga cheerfully advised.

"Yes! That's a good idea, Koga-san. I should prepare a bed for you first – " Kyoko froze.

She didn't have an extra futon. Sho had taken his with him a long time ago, claiming that he needed it in case he needed to 'sleep in at work' (she could now guess that was a total lie). She also didn't have a couch for Koga to sleep on, though she would be much too horrified to allow him to do that in the first place though. She told Koga about the problem and he shrugged it off good-naturedly, still smiling.

"It's okay. I could sleep on the floor in my room –"

But Kyoko cut him off, horrified again. "Absolutely not! That's terribly rude of me and I could never allow Koga-san to suffer like that."

He looked at her, puzzled. "Well, what do you suggest then, Kyoko-chan?"

At that, she faltered. "Ah…I, um, have a large futon…that you could…share with me. Until you get a bed." She blushed slightly.

But she did have a rather sizable futon, which was the only thing she really splurged on, though it had still been cheap.

"That'd be great, Kyoko-chan! Sounds good to me," Koga agreed heartedly.

Which was how Kyoko found herself under her blanket on the futon, with Koga sleeping next to her on top of the blanket.

Her face burned bright red and she tried to will herself to fall asleep quickly.

* * *

The next morning, eager and too charged up about the job she was going to go in for, Kyoko woke up bright and early. She slipped off of her bed, looking back to see Koga still peacefully sleeping, snoring quietly as he inched closer to her vacated spot. She quickly made breakfast, most of which she carefully wrapped up for the others to eat, ate a little herself before she cleaned her dishes, and then set off to where the job was supposed to be on her bike.

When she arrived at the address, she gazed in awe at the large traditional housing featured on the land. It reminded her of the Fuwa's ryokan she used to live and work in, although the ryokan was probably bigger and had separate little sections attached to the main building. Entering it, she saw it also had a very traditional and formal air, which automatically made her self-conscious and slipping back to how she was when she'd lived in the ryokan.

"Hello, how can I help you?" the receptionist greeted her, smiling friendly.

"Please excuse me," she bowed. "I am hoping to interview for the morning job here."

"Oh! Let me let the master know about you," the receptionist said, though unknown to Kyoko, the woman silently sweatdropped at her formality. Well, at least the girl would fit in with this crowd…

Kyoko waited for a bit, until a very stern-looking elderly man walked into the front entrance room. He looked her over and she nervously stood there, her back unconsciously straightening the more he observed her.

"Follow me," he said in a short tone, and Kyoko didn't know whether to be relieved or become even more nervous. But she did as she was asked and followed after whoever this man was.

They passed by a couple of men wearing martial art gi, when the man she was with stopped abruptly and barked out at them.

"Did you forget the proper greetings? In here, you address myself properly in the proper ranking that you have been taught, as if you were really confronted with the lords of the era!"

"Y-yes, Master. We are sorry, Uesugi-dono!" The two men bowed furiously several times, sweating fretfully.

"Hmph," the elderly man, who she now knew was part of the Uesugi family, looked down on them. "Continue to train! You are still lacking."

Then he started to walk again, causing Kyoko to hurry to keep pace. They reached a room where he entered and took a seat in seiza, when she hesitated in following suit, seeing the traditional tatami flooring. Careful not to tread on the edges of the tatami mat and remembering and automatically following the memories of her time at the ryokan, she moved to her knees and bowed lowly, moving into a formal dogeza and even having her forehead practically touch the floor.

"Please excuse my rudeness," she said before getting up in the proper way, and then carefully stepped over the edge and into the room.

He was watching her appraisingly while she moved into a seiza before him.

"You, what is your name?"

* * *

Kyoko practically danced back into her apartment, giggling happily and doing a twirl.

"Someone's happy?" Koga said and she saw that both him and Kijima were there, eating leftovers from that morning. "We're on break, so we came here for lunch. How'd it go?"

Kijima straightened, eyes brightening. "Yeah, how it'd go? You should've told me you'd found a job you were applying for already!"

She was practically beaming at them. "It went great! I got hired and I start tomorrow. And Kijima-san, I don't have a phone, remember?"

"We totally have to change that and you could've stolen Hiromune's," Kijima said in exasperation. Then he was smiling widely. "But congratulations! We need to celebrate!"

"Yes, congrats, Kyoko-chan! I agree with Hidehito, we need to celebrate your success," Koga winked at her.

Kijima was already typing on his phone, making Kyoko curious.

"Eh, what are you doing, Kijima-san?"

"Texting Kuresaki-san," he said quickly. "Letting him know. He says he'll be showing up after work and thanks for the food. Except, you know, more formal," Kijima ended cheekily.

Kyoko stifled a giggle, though she admitted that Kuresaki tended to be more formal than her on occasion. Well, more serious and stern at least.

"Alright!" Koga stood up. "Let's get started on celebrating!"

"We should all make something special to eat," Kijima suggested.

Soon enough, the three of them pitched in ideas and then got started in Kyoko's kitchen. With how small it was though, with three of them (and two of them grown males), it was hard to fit in and maneuver around, but it left for humorous bumps and funny almost accidents (and actual accidents!). Kyoko couldn't remember having that much fun cooking, but with the two guys being silly and the three of them messing around sometimes, it was the first time she could remember being so entertained while cooking.

In the midst of one of their mishaps, Kuresaki came into the apartment and witnessed it at the same time, causing him to observe them in clear amusement. He was also holding a small fancy bag.

"I see you three are having fun. What is for dinner?" he asked, his small smile briefly turning up even more.

"Surprise!" Kyoko actually said, feeling cheerful and excited, and that had Kuresaki actually give a laugh.

He then held out the bag. "Well then… _surprise_."

Kyoko blinked, heading towards him and accepting the bag, while missing the matching smirks of Koga and Kijima behind her. She opened the bag and gaped.

"You got me a phone?!"

* * *

A couple more days had passed since, and Kyoko had been doing a good job at her morning job (and probably abusing her phone messaging and emailing). She was still working at Darumaya at night, though she had also told the kind couple there about her new job, and they'd also congratulated her and celebrated by making her a special dessert, which she'd consumed happily.

In the meanwhile, she was still determinedly looking up jobs, though as Kuresaki was free for a few days (having finished up production), he was helping her as well. She did admit to him that she was becoming more and more interested in acting, especially as she watched the actors, stunt people, and regular students working and learning at the Uesugi Combat School. She was also amazed and worried to know that the elderly man she'd met was _the_ Uesugi Kotetsu, but Kuresaki was more impressed (and had told her that it was likely what it seemed like, from what he'd heard from her) that she'd managed to impress the martial art legend somehow.

"Keep working hard, Mogami-san," Kuresaki said, sounding proud even. Kyoko smiled brightly. "Before you know it, you will be in showbiz."

That almost made Kyoko giddy and she imagined Sho kneeling at her feet, crying tears of regret –

A notebook lightly hit her head.

"Now that you've had your imagination run away for a bit," Kuresaki continued without blinking. "Let's focus on actually finding a way to beat your wayward childhood friend."

Kyoko blushed, but smiled sheepishly. "Y-yes, Kuresaki-san!"

And for a few days, it was like that. Then it was February 14 and she almost scowled and decided it was an almost worthless holiday, when she overheard Kijima and Koga both expressing their like for the holiday and she thought again about what she remembered Kijima telling her.

"Love's not a curse, love's not a curse," she muttered to herself in a mantra, trying to think that. Sure, she'd been cursed by one jerk, but she had met three other guys that were the complete opposite.

And she really wanted to repay them, so starting with this holiday, she wanted to do something special.

But for now, she was going to do a Valentine Special for the combat school! She made sure to do a nice, fluffy breakfast with lots of red and light-colored coloring, decorating them a little (but not going overboard), and then making coffee and tea for everyone. Then she made a pretty, fruit dessert that could end up more as a snack that fit breakfast. The cooks she were working with copied those and helped make tons more for the entire training school.

"What is this?" she heard Kotetsu's voice say dismissively, and she hadn't expected him to sneak up on her.

Embarrassedly, she faced him and coughed. "Um…it's a Valentine's Special breakfast, Kotetsu-san."

He narrowed his eyes at it, but picked up a plate and a dessert. "Hmph. Bring me tea later…And make sure to make an extra dessert. My grandson is coming later."

Kyoko let out a sigh of relief once he'd left. Right! Time to get back to work.

When she finished with breakfast, she set them to the side for the servers. Then she made hot tea and hurried to bring it to Kotetsu, where when she entered his meeting room, she was pleased to see the plate and the dessert glass completely cleaned off. Despite his dismissive attitude, he must've liked it!

"Just set it here," he told her gruffly and after she did so, he continued. "I noticed you were interested in my students' training."

Kyoko flushed red. "Y-yes, that's true. I would like to be an actress and seeing them train like this is very interesting and mesmerizing, Kotetsu-san."

"Hm, hm," he appraised her. "After your work, you may spend some time training and learning as well. Maybe you can teach them how to have proper manners," he muttered at the end, probably not intending for her to hear. She wisely didn't reply to that, though her eyes widened and she bowed lowly.

"Thank you, Sir! I will work very hard!"

Just then, a young boy entered and Kotetsu seemed to transform in front of her eyes.

"Ah, Hiou-kun~ How is my cute, beloved grandson?" Kotetsu stood up and went over to the young boy, hugging him.

"I'm okay, Grampa," the young boy said, looking very embarrassed.

"Oh, you're the one I made the dessert for?" Kyoko blurted out, before mentally smacking her head and wondering why she couldn't just keep quiet.

Both of their attention turned to her, while Hiou brightened up and pulled away from his grandfather, heading to her.

"Dessert? I get to have a dessert?" he asked with a big grin, with his grandfather growing pouty.

"Uh, yes," Kyoko said unsurely. "It's in the kitchens."

"Gramps, Gramps, can I go eat it now?" Hiou asked his grandpa.

"Of course," Kotetsu said dotingly. "Kyoko, take care of my grandson," he said sternly.

Kyoko nodded, looking back and forth between him and Hiou. Huh, looks like Kotetsu (despite his usual attitude) was a doting grandfather type.

Leading Hiou to the kitchens, she took the dessert she'd made and saved for the boy out.

"I hope you like it," she smiled at him.

"What's your name?" he asked bluntly.

She faltered, but resumed her composure. "Kyoko. Mogami Kyoko."

"Eh, I heard Gramps say that you could train and study here, and that you wanted to be an actress. You know, I'm already acting," he boasted. He pointed to himself. "That means, if you want to be an actress, I'm your sempai, you know?"

She blinked. Impressed, she nodded emphatically. "Okay, sempai!"

He beamed, looking pleased. Then he took a bite out of the dessert.

"Hey, this is pretty good! Kyoko, do you know how to make flan?"

A little taken aback, Kyoko shook her head. "I can…try?"

"Yeah! I'm totally coming back tomorrow!"

Kyoko scratched the back of her head.

* * *

She'd just finished up in her own kitchen when the door opened, and to her amusement all three men she now were friends with entered together.

"Good timing," she chirped up.

"Oh yeah? What's up?" Kijima smirked at her, lightly being elbowed by Koga. Kuresaki also tilted his head questioningly.

Kyoko grabbed the prepared sweets from the side where she left it, and then turned back to them, holding it out.

"I made cake pops for you. Happy Valentine's Day!" she said cheerfully, though she was also a bit shy.

"Aw, Kyoko-chan, how sweet~" Kijima sing-songed.

Koga teamed up with him. "My roomie made sweets. I wonder if this is what coming home to a wife is like?"

Kyoko's face burned up and she waved a hand that she liberated from the plate holding the cake pops, furiously at them.

"Y-you guys! Stop teasing!"

Kuresaki carefully picked one up and examined it, before eating the whole thing and chewing thoughtfully. After he was done, he nodded and licked his lips.

"That was wonderful…dear wife," he said with a straight face, and Kyoko shoved the plate into his chest and threw her hands up when he'd grabbed it.

"Jokesters! All of you! I can't believe even you, Kuresaki-san!"

She stormed away into the kitchen (though she was fighting a smile), and the actors burst into laughter while Kuresaki's lips quirked up.

* * *

By the time the beginning of March began, Kyoko had been practicing very hard in Kotetsu's school. Hiou visited often, though he just as often demanded different types of desserts every time. He also, to her surprise and gratefulness, often gave her advice about how to maneuver around other actors and actresses, whether they were older or younger than her, or male or female.

She was also pleased to note that she was doing really well in her practices, though she hadn't expected _this_ just yet.

"There is a minor role I've recommended you to stand in as a stunt for," Kotetsu hnned.

"R-really?" she asked excitedly.

"Don't be too excited," he hnned again. "It's _minor_ , I said."

But Kyoko was still grinning widely at him, with stars practically in her eyes.

"If you do well, I will see about recommending you to other roles as a stand-in. Keep up with your training!" he snapped at her at the end, as if to emphasize and remind her.

She saluted. "Yes, Master! I shall listen to your wise words always!"

He snorted. "Don't get carried away," though his tone was exasperated. "Now go!"

She politely bowed and then left him, trying not to skip out of the training school. One of the other students in a group of others spotted her and waved.

"Remember, Kyoko-chan! There is no fight club!"

The guys laughed while Kyoko gave them an embarrassed smile. When she'd first started training there with the others, Koga had insisted she watch _Fight Club_ with him, and she'd ended up blurting out something to one of the older students there.

" _Is this like a fight club or something?" Kyoko asked innocently. "And do you really have to not tell anyone about it?"_

_She got confused and embarrassed as the others laughed._

" _Kyoko-chan, there is no fight club," one of them said exasperatedly, but smiled wryly at her. "This is just a regular school, and this is just stage combat. So all fighting is stage fighting."_

" _I don't know," another of them started. "I can pull off Brad Pitt!"_

_Another round of laughter came up with the group._

"My lips are sealed," she said teasingly, though she was hesitant since she usually wasn't like that. But she wanted to try to do and be a little different, even if it was slow-going.

"Haha, see you around, Kyoko-chan!"

She waved back at them and then finally got to leaving there. When she reached home, she tiredly sat down on a seat at the kitchen table. It would be nice if she finally bought a couch or something…

The doorbell rang and she looked at it in surprise. Who could that be? Koga, as her roommate, had a key. Somehow or other, both Kuresaki and Kijima had obtained a key for themselves, so they could just enter her apartment on their own as well, though they did usually knock first. It was like their second home.

So who else would be visiting her?

"Maybe one of them forgot or lost their key," she muttered to herself as she got up and decided to head to the door. But upon opening it, she was surprised to see who it was.

"H-Honoka-san!"

Because there was the beautiful model herself, carrying a huge, heavy bag. Honoka looked gleeful at seeing her there.

"Ooh good! You're here, Kyoko-chan. Can I come in?"

"O-of course," Kyoko said quickly. "Please excuse my rudeness!"

She let her in and helped with the bag, and then Honoka was happily facing her.

"Hidehito let me know where you live. You see, I wanted to drop by and give you some of my old bags. My closet is cluttering up and everyone keeps telling me I'm going to end up a hoarder, so I thought why not give them to you? You're a new friend and all, and I wanted to let you have them."

"I-I can't just take them!" Kyoko's mind was melting. "That's too much!"

"Nonsense! I'd really like you to have them," Honaka said, adding in a cute, pleading look that Kyoko was sure she'd practiced and used often to get what she wanted.

It totally worked on Kyoko, who caved in.

"…Alright." Inwardly, she sighed loudly. She peeked into the bag and saw several of the purses Honoka was giving her, and was definitely sure they were all really nice, expensive ones, some that looked brand new and not even used.

Honoka hummed, watching her thoughtfully. "You have good posture."

Kyoko grew a little flustered. "Thank you? Um, I've been told that, but I didn't really realize…"

The model gave her a happy look before looking very playful. "C'mere!"

She marched over to Kyoko and grabbed her hand, before dragging her into her living room. Soon enough, Kyoko found herself humoring Honoka by letting her move into different poses and then copying the blonde, and then somehow or other she was being taught by Honoka how to walk, move, and pose like a model.

Kyoko really hoped none of the others came in any time soon. She felt kind of embarrassed about doing this.

"Chin up! Jut your hip a little there."

Honoka walked around her before smiling sweetly, making Kyoko almost dazed and sigh happily. The other female tapped her nose.

"That was really good and you're really pretty, Kyoko-chan," she told her gently. "I think you need to have a little more confidence and a little more pride. You have great poise and you have pride at certain times, but don't think you're not that pretty or you can't do it. I think you can."

Kyoko gazed at her in surprise and awe, blood rushing to her face all the while.

Honoka giggled and then grinned, pulling her into a half-embrace as she took out a phone.

"Now selfie! I need a picture with my new best friend!"

Kyoko grinned goofily, a bit still dazed. She had a female best friend. She never even had a female friend before!

She felt suddenly very giddy as she thought of all the new friends she made after Sho dumped her. Kijima, Kuresaki, Koga, and now Honoka…

Maybe she should thanked the jerk for accidentally switching things around for her for her own good.

Started 4/12/17 –Completed 5/12/17


	8. Working the Grind

He walked into the restaurant, looking around until he spotted Honoka. She was already browsing a menu, so he headed over.

"Hey, you!" he greeted.

She looked up and waved. "Hey, Hidehito! About time!"

"I'm only late by 5 minutes," he smirked.

She huffed playfully, but didn't say anything else. She pointed to the menu instead. "You chose this place because of the desserts, didn't you?" she accused.

He laughed. "Partly. They've got good food, but yes –their desserts are fantastic. I should bring Kyoko here soon. She likes sweets too."

"Speaking of Kyoko," she started eagerly as Hidehito sat down. "Does she like my purses?"

"She has them lined up on the floor of her room neatly, practically showcased," he told her wryly, remembering when Kyoko had started to do it.

"Hm, maybe I should buy her some sort of purse organizer," Honoka said thoughtfully.

"Don't overdo it," Hidehito warned. "Last time, I know you actually  _bought_  some of those purses. I know for sure that one of those was $1000!"

"$1423 to be exact," Honoka said indifferently. "And it was only 5 out of 20 of the purses I brought over that I bought."

He gave her a pointed look she ignored.

"Oh come on, I've never had anyone to spoil before. Plus, you know that while I've had friends, I've never had a 'close' friend."

Hidehito raised an eyebrow, pointing at himself.

Honoka waved him off. "Oh you know what I mean! Why can't I spoil a friend?"

"Like I said, don't overdo it," Hidehito rolled his eyes. "You're lucky she didn't think to search up some of those purses." He then switched topics, though it stayed on a certain someone. "About Kyoko, what was that picture about? While I'm not surprised you took a selfie with her, I didn't think you'd post it up on your Instagram account."

"Oh! You saw that?" she asked eagerly. "Well, I just wanted to show the picture and her off, since we were having such a good time and it was our first picture together. But now it's gotten over a million views already! Some of the models we worked with recognized her and were asking about her, but so have a lot of photographers and fashion designers. I've been mostly keeping mum about her to up the mystery and intrigue."

He scrutinized her and she ended up blushing lightly.

"And also because I hadn't realized the attention that the picture would get and bring to her," Honoka admitted. "I didn't know if she'd be happy or okay with that."

"I don't either," Hidehito admitted as well. "I know she wants to get into showbiz, but I think she's looking to like acting more and more. She's currently enrolled in free acting classes that she found, you know?"

"She could be like you and Hiromune. Tsuruga too," she said, pointing it out. "Model sometimes, even though you three are actors."

He nodded, but made a face. "I would suggest it to her, but I know that she has such a low –"

"Self-esteem," she finished. "Ugh, do I want to know how or who made her like that?"

"No," he said darkly. "You might start to contemplate murder along with me and two others."

She looked curious then, but he didn't elaborate. So instead she rummaged in her purse then, pulling out a slim folder.

"So I've been having Kyoko send at least one selfie to me every day. Mostly to get her over her shyness and to become used to being photographed."

"Already grooming her to be a model anyway, huh?" he grinned at her.

"I want to work with her too, Mr. Actor," she pointed a finger at him mockingly. "Anyway, I hope it'll help make her more confident too. But a lot of the photos are really good, so I printed some of them out. Here," she handed him the folder.

He blinked and opened it, his mouth forming a small 'o' in surprise. There were a handful of pictures of Kyoko in it, two of them regular selfies and the others he was sure that Hiromune had taken for her since she was obviously not holding her phone.

"You made a portfolio for her?" he asked, still really surprised.

"It's just a small start, but I was hoping that she'd take up that photographer's offer. The one she met on our job last time. Hopefully he'd take a few good photos we can add to this."

He held it up. "You have a copy of this I can have?"

"That is a copy," she said. "Go keep it."

"Okay, thanks. She's currently building up a resumé and this would be a good, helpful addition for her," Hidehito said, starting to think of what else they needed to do.

"Well, call me up if you need anything else," she offered. "Of course I won't mind helping her."

Hidehito gave her a thankful smile.

* * *

Kyoko wiped the sweat off her forehead. She grinned at the work she helped with and felt proud of herself. These past two weeks, she'd worked hard on building up her skills and her resumé, accepting some minor jobs to work on the side. She ended up learning a lot of useful things, and there were many that were helpful and gave great advice to her. Sure, she ran into the rude or egotistical person, but she knew that was a given and didn't let it bother her. She was trying to build a "tough skin" as Kijima told her.

She had also kept practicing lines with Kijima and Koga, who appreciated the help, though she was surer that they were doing it more for her benefit. To help with that, she had also found a place that had a free acting workshop going on. It was only for three weeks and two weeks had already passed, but she had taken as much advantage of it as she could, soaking up as much knowledge as she was able.

"Mogami-kun! Great work today," her employer said, grinning at her. "The theater looks great and the next show will be too, I hope. Thanks for sticking around as an assistant and helping out with the stage."

"I'm glad to be of help," she beamed at him, bowing slightly.

"If you're not employed elsewhere or busy, I'll call you if we have any open job slots that need to be filled," he said and she gave him a grateful look.

"I appreciate it, sir. I'll be off now!"

"Thanks again!" He handed her payment and she waved before heading towards the exit.

But as she moved towards it, she narrowed her eyes at the suspicious looking kind of character hovering around. She frowned and moved towards him, wondering if she should alert security. She fingered the pepper spray in her pocket that Kuresaki had insisted she keep around her, ready to use it if he was some sort of pervert or tried something funny. If he tried to attack her, he'd find himself at the wrong end of her pepper spray…

"Hey, you! What are you doing around here?" she purposefully stomped towards him.

The suspicious man held up his hands, lowering the white face mask. He looked normal enough, but still.

"I'm Kazushi Misonoi, a reporter for Boost magazine," he said quickly. "I'm here to see if I can talk to the cast or crew about the, uh, theater's newest show."

Kyoko kept frowning, eying him doubtfully. After a moment, she let down her guard a little.

"Well, I just finished work here as an assistant," she reluctantly revealed. "I'm excited for the show. I think it's going to be great!" She felt the excitement build up in her, especially since the director had promised her a free ticket and was going to reserve a seat for her at the first showing.

He pushed up his dark glasses. "Yeah? Sounds good. I'll look forward to it. What's your name, sweetie?"

She blushed a little and cleared her throat, still unused to people calling her endearments. "Um, my name is Mogami Kyoko. Pleased to meet you," she bowed respectfully, minding her manners as always.

He paused at that and she tilted her head questionably. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"N-no. I knew someone named Mogami before! What a coincidence, huh? So tell me about the show."

Kyoko was still wondering about his reaction, but pushed it away and began eagerly talking about the show she helped with a little. She wanted it to succeed, and who knows? Maybe it'll be so good it'll head all the way to America and be on Broadway.

* * *

Misonoi had gone to the theater to find out if he could report on anything about the scandal he'd heard about going on there, between the director and the lead actress. Instead, he met  _her_.

Mogami Kyoko.  _Mogami_  Kyoko.

The features on her face was too familiar and the name had been branded into his mind. But more alarmingly was that she looked young and he could see similarities between himself and her. A basic background check showed him what he could conclude with what he had available.

A check into Mogami Saena showed nothing of a daughter, but that meant nothing. So he'd looked into Mogami Kyoko and had found her school records, which gave out her age. Putting in the timeframe, and he felt sinking dread and the familiar regret and guilt.

He had a daughter. A daughter he had had no idea about all these years, and who was almost full grown. Who he had no idea what she knew about him. Had Saena told her all sorts of despicable things about him?

He had truly fallen in love with Saena then, but he had a job and he couldn't just abandon it. But then he left, which  _had_  been a despicable thing to do, and apparently he'd left Saena pregnant and alone. That made what he did doubly despicable, and right now he wasn't sure what to do.

Even though he'd burned all the bridges with Saena, to his eternal regret, he still wanted a connection with his daughter.

But he's been gone all these years and didn't have any right to her. In the end…maybe he should just keep it secret and watch her from afar.

He had never been a father and she probably didn't want him to be one.

* * *

Yuki hid his agitation, knowing that he shouldn't be letting himself feel agitated when he was about to handle a sensitive case. Looking at his watch, he was glad that he wasn't running late for the meeting at least.

"Ah, right on time, Kuresaki-san," he was greeted by someone. "The meeting is taking place in this office."

He nodded distractedly and entered into a room behind the assistant. Inside was the director of his current project, the leading actress, and the two lawyers that was going to handle their case.

"Kuresaki-san, welcome," the male lawyer stood up. "I'm Katagiri Kenichi. This is the lawyer that will be taking on your case –Mogami Saena."

Yuki went still, even though he didn't let his expression change. He swallowed harshly, but bowed as well, keeping an eye on the woman.

She was beautiful, but in a serious way. Her face was like his, expressing no clear emotion aside from professionalism and a stern expression. Even still, though she had dark hair and eyes, he could see the resemblance.

The shape of Kyoko's eyes matched Saena's, along with the slightly pointed chin and the slim face structure. He had no doubt that this woman had to have been a relative of Kyoko's, but he thought that right now was not the time for him to say anything about it.

"As my colleagues have probably already introduced me in my absence, I'm Kuresaki Yuki. It would be much appreciated if we could move along with this case and settle it soon, particularly before the movie will be set to go into post-production…"

The meeting went by slowly, though he was sure it was partly his imagination. Throughout it though, he'd taken to glancing occasionally at Mogami Saena with a dispassionate look, not letting anything on or be too obvious. He wondered how she was related to Kyoko, having no doubt about it, but he also had a sinking feeling just who she was.

When the meeting was over and they set a date for the next one, he calmly said his goodbyes and left. He looked at his phone, seeing that Kyoko had texted him that she was finishing up at Darumaya, and he sent a quick return message saying he was done as well and would come pick her up now.

He didn't know if he should say anything to her, but he also knew that something like this wasn't best kept a secret. So as soon as Kyoko had gotten into his car and he had started driving, he started to talk.

"I had a meeting at a law firm today," he started.

Kyoko laughed. "Don't tell me you're thinking I should try and look into lawyer skills."

He cracked a small smile at that, but it quickly went into a frown, which she quickly noticed and looked nervous at.

"I met someone," he started again, saying heavily. "She reminded me of you. She said her name was Mogami Saena."

They ended up at an intersection, with the light turning red. He looked at Kyoko, seeing her look heart wrenchingly sad, which made him stricken with alarm and regret he'd said anything.

"She's my mother," she whispered, which made him tense, though a part of him had already guessed at that. "I haven't seen her since she'd left me with the Fuwa's."

'Abandoned her' went unsaid.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," he said regretfully.

She looked up and gave him a small smile, which combined with that heart wrenching look still on her face, made him feel even more terrible.

He resolved to keep Mogami Saena away from Kyoko and to never let them cross paths, if Kyoko didn't wish it.

Started 8/7/17 – Completed 8/7/17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. This chapter: was going to go into some detail about Kyoko's side jobs and things she had to do, but I nixed that idea because I thought it was more important to focus and showcase the parental points.
> 
> 2\. Kazushi Misonoi: I'm going by the theory I ran across that the Boost reporter that everyone was worried about at the end of the Prince Coup D'etat arc could've been Misonoi, who is who everyone generally agrees to probably be Kyoko's father.
> 
> 3\. Comae Berenicids Falling on Winter: If you haven't checked out already, this is a new Skip Beat! story from me, based on my Kyoko/Kuu one-shot in "The Love Me Confessionals". Read and review please!
> 
> 4\. (Still, still hoping...) Request: So I'd gotten back into this fandom because one day I felt like rewatching the anime and seeing certain arcs again, and then I thought about the manga and went to its wikia and ran across the wiki profiles of Kuresaki and Koga, which interested me enough to go and read the newest arc of Skip Beat! (and henceforth skipped all the chapters since I last read the manga), and then end up rewatching the anime for real and then read the manga from where I left off on the anime. I loved the new arc so much I really got back into Skip Beat!, but I was disappointed to come back and find practically no variation of stories with Kyoko other than pairing her with Ren! It's frustrating and part of the reason why I lacked any interest in this fandom before, so I would like to request a story, even if it's a one-shot, pairing her with either Kuresaki, Koga, Director Shingai, Yashiro, Matsushima (the Head of LME's acting department), Nakazawa (the Head of LME's singing department), Kuu, or even anyone not mentioned that is practically NEVER paired with Kyoko. In fact, I'll call this the Rare Kyoko Love Fest Challenge!
> 
> Please answer this challenge and do your best to write it!


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